DECr,2  1913 


BV  1475  .H63  1912 
Hodges,  George,  1856-191 
The  training  of  children 
religion 


in  I 


THE 

TRAINING  OF  CHILDREN 

IN   RELIGION 


THE 

TRAINING    OF    CHILDREN 

IN   RELIGION 


v/BY         . 

GEORGE  HODGES,  D.D. 

DEAN  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  THEOLOGICAL  SCHOOL 
AT  CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS 


NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
D.   APPLETON  AND   COMPANY 

I  9  I  2 


Copyright,  1911,  by 
D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY 


Published  April,  1911 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Securing  of  Independent  Goodness  .     .  i 

II.  The   Conditions  of  Human   Nature   .     .     .  ii 

III.  Domestic  Theology:  I.  The  Being  of  God    .  32 

IV.  Domestic  Theology:  II.  The  Nature  of  God  49 

V.    Domestic  Theology:  III.  The  Manifestation 

OF  God 68 

VI.    Domestic   Theology:    IV.  The   Salvation   of 

Man 84 

VII.  The  Silent  Instruction  of  Example  .     .     .  104 

VIII.  The  Practice  of  Prayer 120 

IX.  A  Treasury  of  Devotion 143 

X.  The  Bible  and  the  Children 167 

XI.  A  Household  Lectionary 193 

XII.  The  Sunday-School  Teacher     .     .     .     .     .  218 

XIII.  Sunday  and  the  Children 253 

XIV.  The  Church  and  the  Children      ....  274 
XV.  The  Good  Child 303 


THE 

TRAINING    OF    CHILDREN 

IN    RELIGION 

CHAPTER   I 

THE  SECURING  OF  INDEPENDENT 
GOODNESS 

I  HAVE  in  mind  the  religious  edu- 
cation of  children  up  to  the 
age  of  fifteen  years.  After  that, 
whether  with  or  without  the  admonition  of 
their  elders,  they  will  educate  themselves. 
My  purpose  is  to  bring  to  the  assistance 
of  fathers  and  mothers  and  teachers  such 
suggestions,  out  of  experience  and  books,  as 
may  enable  them  with  a  clear  mind  and  a 
fair  result  to  perform  their  responsible 
duty.    That  duty,  as  they  know  well  enough, 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

is  only  begun  when  they  maintain  their 
children  in  sound  health  of  body,  and  is 
only  carried  a  little  further  when  they  make 
them  learn  their  lessons  at  school.  Even 
good  behavior  is  not  the  end  of  their  proper 
achievement.  Their  purpose  as  to  morals 
is  insufficiently  accomplished  when  they 
secure  respect  and  order  and  obedience. 

For  moral  behavior  may  be  a  matter  of 
dependence  or  of  independence.  The  vir- 
tues may  be  imposed  on  children  by  superior 
strength  of  will,  or  by  an  efficient  system 
of  reward  and  punishment.  Children  may 
be  good  because  they  have  no  chance  to  be 
bad.  The  conditions  under  which  they  are 
brought  up  may  provide  them  with  shelter 
and  protection  and  continual  watchfulness. 
They  may  live  in  the  unfailing  presence  of 
parents  or  nurses  or  teachers.  They  may 
not  know  a  moment  in  which  they  are  left 
to  their  own  free  devices.  Their  choices 
may  be  determined  for  them.  The  good- 
ness of  children,  under  circumstances  such 


Securing  of  Independent  Goodness 


as  these,  is  an  unknown  quantity.     It  may 
be  only  a  dependent  goodness. 

Sometimes  when  a  child  thus  nurtured 
grows  into  youth  and  comes  at  last  into  his 
inevitable  independence,  and  his  own  true 
will  appears,  his  parents  are  much  surprised. 
Thus  and  thus  he  did  when  he  could  not 
help  himself,  but  now  he  is  revealed.  The 
father  and  mother  cannot  understand  how 
their  son  who  was  such  a  quiet  and  gentle 
lad  at  home,  and  whose  marks  for  conduct 
were  so  good  in  the  private  school,  can  be- 
have at  college  as  if  he  had  a  devil.  They 
are  rather  inclined  to  lay  the  blame  upon 
the  devil.  But  the  probable  reason  for  the 
difference  is  in  the  fact  that  the  boy  had 
only  a  dependent  goodness.  The  obedi- 
ence which  he  showed  was  of  their  impos- 
ing, not  of  his  own  choosing.  They  con- 
trolled him,  but  they  did  not  educate  him. 
They  did  not  bring  him  up  so  that  he  freely 
and  naturally  and  gladly  preferred  the 
good. 

3 


T^he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

The  difference  between  a  dependent  and 
an  independent  goodness  is  due  only  in  part 
to  the  method  of  training.  The  method 
may  be  changed,  and  the  child  may  be  given 
his  own  choice  earlier  in  life,  and  still  the 
results  may  be  disappointing.  His  parents 
or  teachers  may  try  the  experiment  of  leav- 
ing him  unwatched,  and  may  find  by  ex- 
perience that  the  experiment  does  not  work. 
It  may  seem  necessary  to  choose  between 
dependent  goodness  and  independent  bad- 
ness. And  in  the  face  of  such  a  choice  it 
may  seem  wise  to  choose  goodness,  under 
any  conditions.  There  is  also  a  feeling, 
which  is  fairly  founded  on  human  nature, 
that  if  a  child  can  be  kept  good  up  to  the 
age  of  ten  or  twelve,  even  by  main  force, 
there  is  a  fair  chance  that  he  will  stay  good. 
The  parable  of  the  twig  and  the  tree  seems 
to  apply:  as  the  twig  is  bent  so  shall  the 
tree  be  inclined.  Not  only,  however,  is  the 
result  uncertain,  but  there  is  a  radical  de- 
fect in  the  process. 

4 


Securing  of  Independent  Goodness 

Independent  goodness,  such  as  we  desire 
for  our  children,  proceeds  not  simply  from 
custom  but  from  motive.  An  educative 
process  is  defective  which  provides  no  more 
than  forms  and  precedents,  and  accom- 
plishes no  more  than  the  formation  of 
habits.  The  forms  and  precedents  and 
habits  are  of  avail  only  so  long  as  the  con- 
ditions remain  unchanged.  The  youth  thus 
educated  is  not  competent  to  adjust  himself 
to  new  conditions,  nor  is  he  secure  against 
temptation.  Temptation  introduces  at  once 
a  new  situation  with  which  he  has  not  been 
accustomed  to  deal.  He  has  been  shielded 
against  temptation.  There  is  little  within 
him  which  comes  now  to  his  rescue  and 
reinforcement.  Indeed,  the  fact  that  he  has 
been  in  the  habit  of  doing  as  those  who  arc 
about  him  do,  operates  now  to  incline  him 
to  conform  himself  to  new  associates.  The 
good  habits  gained  him  the  approval  of  his 
parents,  his  teachers  and  his  schoolmates; 
but  now  approval    in  the  wholly  different 

5 


T^he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

situation  in  which  he  finds  himself,  will  be 
gained  by  the  bad  habits.  A  dependent 
goodness  will  be  easily  supplanted  by  an 
equally  dependent  badness. 

What  is  needed  is  a  constant  motive.  The 
lad  who  can  be  trusted  in  the  midst  of  temp- 
tation is  not  only  accustomed  to  be  good,  but 
desires  to  be  good.  That  is  his  own,  honest, 
independent  wish.  That  is  his  ideal.  His 
tastes,  his  interest,  and  his  will  are  all  that 
way.  In  the  curriculum  of  the  home  or  of 
the  school,  in  the  learning  of  the  lessons  of 
life,  he  has  graduated  out  of  the  class  in 
which  the  text-book  is  the  Commandments 
into  the  class  in  which  the  text-book  is  the 
Beatitudes. 

The  Commandments  and  the  Beatitudes 
differ  not  only  in  the  form  of  statement, 
wherein  the  old  law  is  negative  and  the  new 
is  positive,  but  in  the  spirit  which  this 
change  of  form  represents.  The  Command- 
ments are  prohibitions,  but  the  Beatitudes 
are  ideals.     ^'See,"  cries  the  Master  of  the 


Securing  of  Independent  Goodness 

Soul,  "here  is  the  excellent  life,  here  is  true 
happiness,  here  are  the  ideals  of  fine,  strong, 
free  manhood."  Then  one  who  has  said  to 
himself:  "I  must  not  turn  to  the  right,  I 
must  not  turn  to  the  left,  on  I  must  go,  one 
foot  after  the  other,  in  this  prescribed 
path,"  lifts  up  his  eyes,  and  there  are  the 
shining  hills,  there  is  his  goal,  his  destina- 
tion, his  haven,  his  great  achievement. 
There  is  the  place  where  he  would  be. 
And  he  says:  "By  the  grace  of  God,  I 
will  attain  that  height."  Thereafter,  he 
journeys  with  a  new  purpose,  a  new  hope 
and  a  new  courage.  He  looks  up  and  not 
down.     He  has  a  new  motive. 

This  e&sential  motive,  this  interior  and 
sincere  choice,  is  not  effected  by  prohibi- 
tion, or  protection,  or  admonition,  or  by  any 
instruction  in  ethics.  The  principles  of 
ethics  appeal  to  the  understanding,  and  give 
support  to  prudence,  but  they  are  of  slight 
avail  against  the  misleadings  of  emotion. 
The  only  force  which  can  persistently  with- 

7 


'The  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

stand  a  wrong  emotion  is  a  right  emotion. 
In  the  Puritan  Revolution,  Cromwell  per- 
ceived that  the  royal  troops  were  upborne 
by  the  emotion  of  chivalry:  it  gave  impetus 
to  their  charge  and  strength  to  their  arms. 
He  saw  that  he  must  oppose  to  them  a  force 
of  men  also  upborne  by  emotion,  who  to  the 
might  of  their  muscles  should  add  a  great 
enthusiasm  of  their  souls.  So  he  recruited 
the  Ironsides,  who  were  not  only  fighting 
men  but  praying  men,  and  who  were  intent 
not  only  on  a  battle  but  on  a  cause  which 
consecrated  all  their  valor.  He  brought 
into  the  field  a  new  emotion. 

The  defect  of  ethics  as  a  force  in  the  de- 
velopment of  conduct  is  its  lack  of  this  qual- 
ity of  emotion,  and  its  consequent  failure  to 
provide  youth  with  an  independent  motive. 
It  is  one  thing  to  understand  the  difference 
between  good  and  evil,  but  an  altogether 
different  thing  to  refuse  the  evil  and  to 
choose  the  good.  Indeed,  the  understand- 
ing is  so  easy  as  to  suggest  the  definition  of 

8 


Securing  of  Indepeiident  Goodness 

ethics  as  the  science  of  what  everybody 
knows,  expressed  in  language  which  nobody 
can  comprehend.  But  to  do  right  is  an- 
other matter:  even  as  there  are  many  stu- 
dents of  philosophy,  but  mighty  few  philos- 
ophers. A  consideration  of  ethical  values 
provides  details  for  conduct,  and  is  cor- 
rective and  necessary;  but  it  does  not  fur- 
nish a  motive.  This  is  best  supplied  by  re- 
ligion. 

I  concern  myself,  for  this  reason,  with 
the  training  of  children  in  religion,  not  in 
ethics.  I  am  dealing  here  not  with  hon- 
esty or  purity,  not  with  the  speaking  of  the 
truth  or  with  the  keeping  of  one's  life  un- 
spotted from  the  world,  so  much  as  with  the 
interior  purpose,  ideal,  motive,  emotion 
which  shall  work  itself  out  into  all  these 
forms  of  conduct.  The  proposition  with 
which  I  begin  is  that  the  conditions  of  hu- 
man nature  are  such  as  to  make  it  necessary 
for  us  to  train  our  children  in  religion. 
The  result  of  right  religion  is  that  one  of 

9 


T'he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

his  own  will  desires  to  be  good.  His  mon- 
itor is  within.  He  may  be  removed  from 
the  domestic  restrictions  of  his  youth,  and 
placed  in  circumstances  which  give  him 
freedom  to  choose  both  his  companions  and 
his  manner  of  life.  That  will  make  no  dif- 
ference. He  is  his  own  master,  and  wher- 
ever he  goes  he  carries  his  own  standards 
and  ideals.  Or  rather,  he  serves  a  Divine 
Master  in  whose  presence  he  lives  contin- 
ually, no  matter  where  he  goes.  He  waits 
for  no  external  obligation.  He  can  be  fully 
trusted. 


CHAPTER   II 
THE  CONDITIONS  OF  HUMAN  NATURE 

^w^HATEVER  mistakes  have  been 
r  I  1  made  in  the  training  of  children  in 
religion,  they  have  been  due  for  the 
most  part  to  a  lack  of  consideration  for  the 
conditions  of  childhood.  Sometimes  there 
has  been  a  serious  defect  in  the  understand- 
ing of  religion  itself,  as  in  the  days  when 
the  doctrine  that  children  are  ''conceived 
and  born  in  sin''  was  taken  to  mean  that 
they  all  belonged  to  the  devil,  until  by  their 
own  voluntary  act  and  choice  they  trans- 
ferred their  allegiance  to  the  Lord.  But 
commonly  the  religion  has  been  good 
enough.  The  teachers  of  it  have  failed  to 
take  advantage  of  the  conditions  of  human 
nature. 

One  of  the  conditions  of  human  nature 

3  II 


^he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

is  that  we  respond  naturally  to  observation. 
We  do  our  best  when  we  are  seen. 

This  is  at  the  heart  of  those  careful  meth- 
ods at  home  and  at  school  by  which  children 
are  provided  with  unfailing  companions 
and  counselors.  Thus  far,  such  methods 
are  in  accordance  with  the  facts  of  human 
life.  Not  only  does  observation  prevent 
much  which  is  wrong,  but  it  stimulates  to 
excellent  action.  When  Roger  Williams 
said  of  the  Rhode  Island  Indians  that  they 
would  endure  torture  without  a  murmur 
but  that  they  cried  when  they  had  the  tooth- 
ache, he  indicated  the  access  of  fortitude 
which  comes  with  an  admiring  audience. 
The  man  at  the  stake  was  conscious  that  he 
was  under  observation,  and  he  conducted 
himself  in  the  great  manner  of  a  hero.  But 
the  toothache  was  another  matter.  No- 
body cared  whether  he  endured  it  well  or 
ill. 

We  are  so  made  that  we  are  helped  by 
being  watched.     One  reason  why  our  words 

12 


T'he  Conditions  of  Human  Nature 

are  so  much  better  than  our  thoughts  is  that 
our  words  by  becoming  audible  are  sub- 
jected to  the  observation  of  our  neighbors. 
If  mind-reading  should  become  a  general 
accomplishment,  it  would  have  a  reforming 
effect  upon  the  processes  of  our  minds. 
We  would  abstain  from  thinking  the  things 
which  we  now  abstain  from  speaking.  One 
reason  why  young  men  and  women  who 
have  lived  reputably  in  a  country  town  find 
the  influences  of  city  life  not  only  relaxing 
but  degenerating  is  that  the  conditions  of 
the  city  emphasize  the  individual  rather 
than  the  social  side  of  life.  In  the  country 
everybody  is  under  observation.  No  neigh- 
bor can  conceal  from  his  fellow-citizens  his 
neglect  to  go  to  church,  or  his  tendency  to 
stay  out  late  at  night.  But  in  the  city,  we 
may  not  know  our  neighbor's  name.  His 
concerns  are  his  own.  He  is  free  to  fol- 
low his  own  will.  Out  he  goes  and  in  he 
comes  without  regard  to  us.  It  is  in  the 
city  that  the  man  is  found  who  says:  "I  in- 

13 


'^he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

cline  to  Cain's  heresy,  I  let  my  brother  go 
to  the  devil  in  his  own  way." 

The  method  of  betterment  by  observa- 
tion fails  because  of  the  difficulty  or  impos- 
sibility of  maintaining  it.  Children  can- 
not be  watched  or  counseled  or  protected 
forever.  They  leave  their  home  or  their 
school  and  begin  to  make  their  own  way  in 
the  world,  and  the  sudden  change  brings 
with  it  a  great  moral  danger.  What  is 
needed  is  some  kind  of  continuance  of  the 
helpful  conditions  under  which  life  has  pre- 
viously proceeded.  This  is  provided  by  re- 
ligion. For  one  of  the  fundamental  facts 
of  religion  is  the  universal  presence  of  God. 
The  child  goes  out  of  the  presence  of  his 
parents  and  teachers,  but  if  he  has  been  edu- 
cated in  religion  he  knows  that  he  abides 
always  in  the  presence  of  God.  He  is  un- 
der the  observation  of  God. 

This  consciousness  of  the  constant  obser- 
vation of  God  is  that  "fear  of  the  Lord" 
which  is  defined  as  the  beginning  of  wis- 

H 


The  Conditions  of  Human  Nature 

dom.  The  wise  man  who  would  set  the 
feet  of  children  in  the  right  way,  and  teach 
them  lessons  which  they  may  use  for 
strength  and  direction  as  long  as  they  live, 
starts  with  this  religious  truth:  ''Come,  ye 
children,  and  hearken  unto  me.  I  will 
teach  you  the  fear  of  the  Lord."  God,  who 
made  us  and  all  the  world,  is  forever  present 
with  us,  and  is  aware  of  all  our  acts  and 
words  and  thoughts.  He  is  concerned 
about  us,  individually.  None  is  too  young 
or  insignificant  to  be  beyond  His  interest. 
He  who  knew  more  about  God  than  anyone 
else  who  ever  lived  said  that  the  very  hairs 
of  our  heads  are  numbered  by  Him,  and 
meant  that  God  cares  for  us  even  to  the  least 
details.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  innumerable 
multitudes  of  men,  God  cares  for  us  as  if 
He  and  we  were  alone  in  the  whole  world. 
The  initial  purpose  of  religion  is  to  impress 
this  upon  the  minds  of  children.  This  is  a 
contribution  which  religion,  and  religion 
only,  makes  to  conduct. 
IS 


The  'Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

It  is  plain  that  such  a  consciousness  of  the 
presence  of  God  will  deter  the  child  from 
evil.     For  it  is  of  the  nature  of  God  that 
He  desires  us  to  be  good.     The  child  under- 
stands, easily  enough,  that  his  parents  wish 
him  to  be  good:  that  is  brought  to  his  atten- 
tion a  hundred  times  a  day.     He  receives 
naturally  the  statement  that  God,  his  Father 
in  heaven,  desires  him  to  be  good.     Grad- 
ually, he  carries  the  habit  of  doing  right  in 
the  presence  of  his  parents  into  the  habit  of 
doing  right  in  the  presence  of  God.     When 
he  is  tempted  to  do  wrong,  he  says:  "Thou 
God  seest  me."     And  the  thought  gives  him 
an  access  of  strength  which  exceeds  the  in- 
tellectual considerations  of  moral  prudence. 
This  may  or  may  not  be  associated  with  an 
expectation    of    the    punishment    of    God. 
The  consciousness  of  the  presence  of  God  is 
normally  enough :  I  will  not  ofTend  against 
the  will  of  God,  I  will  not  say  or  do  or  even 
think  that  which  would  displease  Him,  for 
here  He  is  standing  unseen  beside  me.     "O 

i6 


T'he  Conditions  of  Human  Nature 

Lord,  Thou  hast  searched  me  and  known 
me.  Thou  knowest  my  downsitting  and 
uprising:  Thou  understandest  my  thought 
afar  off.  Thou  searchest  out  my  path  and 
my  lying  down,  and  art  acquainted  with  all 
my  ways.  For  there  is  not  a  word  in  my 
tongue,  but  lo,  O  Lord,  Thou  knowest  it 
altogether." 

Also,  such  a  consciousness  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God  will  urge  the  child  toward  ex- 
cellence. The  same  instinct  which  impels 
him  to  do  well  under  ordinary  observation 
will  be  an  interior  impulse  to  do  well  in 
the  sight  of  God.  He  will  be  fortified 
against  the  temptation  to  neglect  that  which 
nobody  is  likely  to  notice,  and  will  be  de- 
livered from  what  St.  Paul  calls  "eye-serv- 
ice." He  will  know  what  is  meant  by  the 
exhortation:  "Whether  therefore  ye  eat  or 
drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the 
glory  of  God." 

Thus  all  that  is  effective  in  the  idea  of 
moral  betterment  by  observation  is  brought 

17 


'T'he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

forward  by  religion  out  of  the  home  and  the 
school  into  the  larger  life.  The  child  who 
has  been  so  trained  that  the  constant  pres- 
ence of  God  is  a  sure  conviction  can  be 
trusted  anywhere.  He  has  within  him  a 
defense  against  evil,  and  an  inspiration  to 
do  good.  His  own,  native,  independent 
desire  is  to  please  God.  He  has  a  talisman 
of  protection  and  strength  which  no  amount 
of  moral  teaching  can  give  him.  He  has 
been  given  a  spiritual  endowment  which 
will  make  him  rich  as  long  as  he  lives. 

A  second  condition  of  human  nature  is 
our  desire  for  knowledge.  We  are  by  in- 
stinct inquisitive.  As  soon  as  we  learn  to 
speak,  we  begin  to  ask  questions. 

If  children  hate  to  go  to  school, — as  most 
of  them  do  at  some  time  in  their  lives, — 
the  fault  is  not  in  the  indifference  of  the 
child  but  in  the  failure  of  the  school  to 
adjust  itself  to  the  child's  nature.  The  re- 
lation between  the  mind  and  the  body  is 
even  yet  imperfectly  understood.    We  are 

i8 


The  Conditions  of  Human  Nature 

still  affected  by  the  tradition  that  the  child's 
mind  comes  to  school  and  brings  along  his 
body  for  the  purpose  of  annoying  the 
teacher.  Sometimes  the  training  of  the 
child  is  hindered  by  the  lack  of  a  point  of 
contact  between  the  lesson  and  the  present 
life  of  the  child.  Sometimes  the  difficulty 
is  in  the  walls  and  the  windows  and  the 
weather  and  the  impatience  of  young  ani- 
mals against  confinement  within  doors. 
Children  desire  to  learn. 

In  response  to  this  desire,  astronomy  and 
geology  and  biology  provide  a  great  amount 
of  material,  and  answer  many  questions. 
There  are  two  respects,  however,  in  which 
these  sciences  do  not  satisfy  the  mind  of 
youth:  they  do  not  give  information  as  to 
the  origin  or  as  to  the  destiny  of  life ;  and 
they  do  not  reply  to  the  inquirer  in  terms 
of  personality.  But  these  are  matters  con- 
cerning which  the  human  mind  is  invincibly 
curious.  In  the  childhood  of  the  race,  the 
universal  questions  had  to  do  with  origin 

19 


T'he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

and  destiny,  and  the  universal  answer  was 
in  terms  of  personal  will.  Thus  the  Bible 
begins  with  an  account  of  the  making  of 
the  universe  and  of  Man,  and  comes  almost 
immediately  to  the  phenomenon  of  death, 
and  explains  everything  by  reference  to 
God.  In  the  beginning,  God  made  the 
heavens  and  the  earth;  in  due  time,  God 
made  man  in  His  own  image;  then  men 
died,  one  by  one,  and  their  bodies  returned 
to  the  dust  from  which  they  were  taken, 
while  their  souls  returned  to  God  who  gave 
them.  "Enoch  walked  with  God,  and  he 
was  not,  for  God  took  him." 

These  primitive  traditions  are  confessedly 
imperfect  in  detail.  It  is  significant  that 
two  accounts  of  the  creation  of  the  world 
are  set  down  side  by  side,  with  no  attempt 
to  reconcile  their  evident  differences.  One 
of  them  pictures  the  initial  condition  of 
the  world  as  a  great  deep,  the  other  as  a 
great  desert.  One  introduces  man  late,  the 
other  early,  into  the  life  of  the  planet.     But 

20 


T^he  Conditions  of  Human  Nature 

in  essential  substance  the  accounts  agree,  not 
only  with  each  other  but  with  all  knowl- 
edge. Gradually  the  world  came  into 
shape,  with  man  as  the  master  of  it.  These 
chapters  reveal  the  convictions  in  which 
the  common  mind  of  humanity  found  rest. 
Men  were  not  satisfied  till  their  questions 
concerning  the  origin  and  the  destiny  of  life 
were  answered  in  terms  of  the  personal  will 
of  God. 

That  which  is  true  of  the  childhood  of 
the  race  is  true  also  of  the  childhood  of  the 
individual.  The  child  is  occupied  in  mak- 
ing himself  at  home  here  in  this  new  world. 
A  great  part  of  this  process  consists  in  inter- 
rogation. First,  as  to  the  origin  of  life: 
whence  came  the  earth  and  the  stars?  The 
child's  mind  is  so  constituted  that  he  insists 
on  ultimate  answers.  He  is  of  the  spirit 
of  old  Epicurus,  to  whom  his  master  said: 
"At  the  beginning  of  all  things  was  chaos," 
and  Epicurus  said:  "And  what  was  before 
chaos?"     The  child  persistently  goes  back 

21 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

and  back  to  the  absolute  origins.  It  is  true, 
that  after  a  long  series  of  evasive  or  nega- 
tive answers,  he  becomes  discouraged.  He 
finds  that  neither  his  teachers  nor  his  par- 
ents will  tell  him,  or  can  tell  him,  what  he 
wants  to  know.  The  answers  are  not  in  the 
books  of  science.  The  same  difficulty  meets 
him  in  his  researches  into  the  beginning  of 
his  own  being.  The  phenomenon  of  birth 
makes  a  deep  impression  upon  him.  His 
questions  are  avoided  by  his  elders,  or  are 
given  foolish  answers  which  affront  his 
self-respect.  Presently,  he  picks  up  some 
information,  a  good  deal  muddled  and  mud- 
died, in  the  street.  The  case  is  only  a  little 
better  as  to  the  destiny  of  life,  as  to  the 
significance  of  the  tremendous  fact  of  death. 
The  truth  is  that  the  satisfying  answers  to 
these  elemental  questions  can  be  given  only 
in  the  language  of  religion.  The  ultimate 
reality  is  God.  When  St.  Augustine  said: 
"Thou  madest  us  for  Thyself,  and  our  heart 
is  restless  till  it  repose  in  Thee,"  he  declared 

22 


^he  Co72ditions  of  Hiwian  Nature 

a  universal  human  condition.  We  are  not 
content  with  explanations  which  end  in  laws 
or  forces.  We  crave  a  personal  universe. 
As  for  children,  nothing  else  will  satisfy 
either  their  imagination  or  their  reason. 
Their  reason  impels  them  to  interpret  the 
world  according  to  their  own  nature,  and 
to  find  a  personal  will  at  the  heart  of  it,  as 
it  is  at  the  heart  of  their  own  life.  And 
their  imagination  kindles  at  the  thought  of 
an  Unseen  Being,  master  of  the  stars,  yet 
ministering  to  their  own  childish  needs.  It 
makes  a  difference,  even  with  children, 
whether  the  universe  is  conceived  as  empty, 
built  of  stone  and  hung  with  clouds  and 
lighted  with  suns,  but  uninhabited,  or  as 
the  vast,  immeasurable  dwelling-place  of 
God.  The  look  of  all  things  is  the  same 
whichever  way  the  child  is  taught  to  think 
about  it,  but  the  meaning,  the  quality,  the 
feel  of  things  is  different.  It  is  like  the 
difference  between  the  sensations  of  a  child 
in  a  house  where  people  live,  and  the  inde- 
23 


T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

finably,  but  very  seriously  changed  sensa- 
tions, when  the  child  is  in  the  house  alone. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  see  or  even  hear  the 
other  people;  the  simple  know^ledge  of  their 
presence  brings  a  reassuring  companion- 
ship. But  if  there  are  no  people,  if  the 
child  is  the  sole  tenant  of  the  great  house, 
the  still  air  is  filled  with  vague  alarms. 

A  third  condition  of  human  nature  is  our 
quick  response  to  the  summons  of  loyalty. 

In  the  childhood  of  the  race,  the  world 
was  ruled  by  heroes.  That  was  the  normal 
order  of  government.  This  government 
was  enforced  in  part  by  physical  strength 
and  valor  but  still  more  by  the  might  of 
admiration  and  enthusiasm.  Men  obeyed 
and  followed  because  their  hearts  were 
filled  with  loyalty  to  their  leaders.  For 
good  and  ill,  this  is  one  of  the  most  potent 
of  emotions,  and  still  sways  the  lives  of 
men.  It  dominates  the  thoughts  of  grow- 
ing children.  When  they  begin  to  read, 
they  incline  naturally  to  the  stories  of  ro- 

24 


T'he  Conditions  of  Humufi  Nature 

mantic  heroism.  These  fit  psychologically 
the  period  of  life  in  which  they  are  living. 
The  normal  child  is  an  adventurer.  He  is 
the  descendant  of  old  warriors,  and  brig- 
ands, and  pirates,  and  discoverers,  and  in 
the  spring  of  the  year,  and  the  spring  of 
the  years,  their  blood  moves  in  his  veins. 
He  descends  with  them  into  the  back  yard 
as  into  an  arena,  and  proceeds  to  undertake 
the  tasks  of  chivalry.  He  brings  the  heroes 
with  him  out  of  the  books,  and  together 
they  sail  and  fight  and  explore  lands  unvis- 
ited.  He  endeavors,  according  to  his  might, 
to  be  like  these  mighty  men  of  old.  The 
sword  of  lath  is  but  a  faint  reminder  of 
Excalibur,  but  it  is  a  symbol,  nevertheless, 
of  all  the  knightly  virtues. 

Sir  Arthur  Helps  said  wisely  that  a  su- 
preme need  of  nations  is  a  true  idea  of  great- 
ness ;  and  the  saying  applies  as  well  to  indi- 
viduals. It  applies  with  special  force  to 
children  who  are  in  the  time  of  life  when 
they  may  not  only  dream  great  things  but 
25 


T^he  I'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

may  honestly  expect  to  do  them.  Such  an 
expectation  is  a  determining  force.  It 
makes  a  difference.  But  it  is  commonly 
aroused  not  by  a  proposition  or  a  general 
principle,  nor  even  by  a  noble  cause,  but  by 
the  embodiment  of  these  things  in  a  person. 
Personality  is  the  vernacular  in  which  ideals 
speak  to  children. 

It  is  therefore  a  matter  of  serious  im- 
portance to  provide  children  with  the 
proper  materials  of  personality  out  of  which 
they  may  make  the  ideals  which  shall  de- 
termine their  lives.  This  is  done  in  part 
by  the  daily  companionship  of  playmates, 
in  part  by  the  acquaintances  whom  they 
meet  and  the  friends  whom  they  make  in 
books,  but  also  by  the  actual  great  persons 
of  history  in  whose  steps,  though  at  remote 
distances,  they  follow.  It  is  plainly  not 
enough  that  these  heroes  be  persons  of 
notable  valor,  and  useful  patterns  in  times 
of  war.  This  is  an  admirable  quality,  and 
comes  in  good  play  even  in  days  of  the  most 

26 


T^he  Conditions  of  ¥Lu77ian  Nature 

serene  and  even  monotonous  peace,  but  it  is 
in  large  measure  a  virtue  of  the  body.  Still 
less  is  it  enough  that  the  child's  ideals  shall 
be  persons  of  eminent  success  in  business, 
whereby  they  make  immense  fortunes,  and 
go  about  in  automobiles  and  steam  yachts. 
This  is  mighty  pleasant,  but  it  has  to  do  with 
the  outside  of  life.  What  we  wish  is  that 
the  persons  of  whom  our  children  think 
most  often  and  most  admiringly  shall  be  in- 
spiring patterns  of  high  character.  We 
want  them  to  be  independent  of  occasions 
and  of  possessions,  not  waiting  for  wars, 
and  not  consisting  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  they  are  able  to  buy  with 
money.  We  want  them  to  wear  the  jewel 
of  courtesy  and  to  be  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  service.  We  would  have  them  not  only 
virtuous  but  unselfish,  going  about  doing 
good,  giving  their  strength  not  to  destruc- 
tion but  to  construction,  overcoming  great 
difficulties,  and  making  the  world  better. 
We  would  have  their  lives  show  not  only 
3  27 


T^he  T^'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

certain  results  but  certain  qualities,  as  gen- 
tleness, forbearance,  consideration,  appreci-  ^ 
ation  of  the  beauty  of  the  world  and  devout 
recognition  of  the  world  unseen. 

We  are  in  no  doubt  whatever  in  our 
choice  between  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and 
Francis  of  Assisi  as  companions  for  our 
sons  of  twelve  or  fifteen  years  of  age.  We 
choose  the  saint.  We  choose  the  cheerful, 
tender,  loving,  praying  and  serving  saint. 
As  for  results,  Francis  made  deeper  and 
more  lasting  changes  in  Europe  than  Na- 
poleon. But  in  the  quality  of  the  two  lives 
there  is  no  comparison.  In  detail,  we 
would  not  have  our  son  follow  either  of 
these  patterns:  we  would  not  have  him 
either  an  emperor  or  a  friar;  we  would  not 
have  him  put  upon  his  head  either  the  three- 
cornered  hat  of  Napoleon  or  the  cowl  of 
Francis.  But  in  the  ordinary  walks  of  life, 
in  the  sort  of  days  which  he  is  likely  to  live, 
we  would  be  glad  to  have  him  a  gentleman 
and  a  Christian.    We  would  like  to  see 

28 


'T'he  Conditions  of  Human  Nature 

him  growing  into  that  fine  spirit,  devel- 
oping that  strong  and  delicate  quality  of 
life,  and  devoting  himself  to  the  general 
good. 

But  this  kind  of  character  grows  most 
naturally  in  the  soil  of  religion.  The  most 
delicious  wines  grow  in  certain  vineyards. 
The  difference  between  them  and  other 
wines  is  not  in  the  grape-stock  which  is 
planted,  nor  in  the  process  which  is  used 
in  the  making:  it  is  in  the  ground.  The 
same  grapes  treated  in  the  same  way  in 
other  soils  will  yield  inferior  results.  The 
determining  quality  is  in  the  soil.  So  it 
is  with  men.  Children  may  be  trained  ac- 
cording to  the  same  ethical  processes,  given 
the  same  admonition  and  instruction,  but 
with  diverse  results  according  to  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  religion.  When  Thoreau 
said  that  the  finest  of  arts  is  to  improve  the 
quality  of  the  day,  he  indicated  the  inde- 
finable difference  which  we  feel  between 
one  good  person  and  another.  It  is  not  in 
29 


^he  'Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

conduct  but  in  quality.  Of  course,  the  in- 
fluences of  religion  are  so  subtle  that  they 
are  likely  to  fail  in  many  cases.  The  Par- 
able of  the  Sower  illustrates  that.  But 
when  the  conditions  are  right  they  produce 
saints. 

A  main  factor  in  this  accomplishment  is 
the  personality  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  dis- 
tinctive contribution  of  Christianity  to  the 
progress  of  the  world  is  the  life  and  death 
of  Jesus  Christ.  The  point  of  contact  be- 
tween Him  and  the  individual  is  the  spirit 
of  loyalty.  The  most  remarkable  exhibi- 
tion of  this  spirit  is  in  the  fact  of  martyr- 
dom. Men  and  women  and  even  children, 
out  of  pure  love  for  Jesus  Christ,  have  en- 
dured tortures  even  unto  death.  He  has 
thus  evoked  an  enthusiasm  and  an  alle- 
giance which  surpasses  immeasurably  the 
devotion  paid  to  other  heroes.  It  is  plain 
in  history  that  there  is  that  in  Him  which 
calls  forth  the  entire  and  self-effacing  devo- 
tion of  the  soul.     And  this  is  true  in  a 

30 


T^he  Conditions  of  Human  Nature 

lesser  degree  in  ordinary  life.  The  spirit 
of  loyalty  which  makes  a  child  endeavor 
to  be  like  some  great  person  about  whom 
he  has  heard,  and  which  impels  a  child  to 
say  to  himself:  "I  cannot  do  this  or  that 
because  my  father  and  mother  would  not 
like  it,"  produces  a  similar  allegiance  of 
admiration  and  of  affection  to  Jesus  Christ. 
To  develop  such  a  loyalty  in  childhood  is 
to  render  a  service  of  inestimable  value. 
It  is  to  do  the  greatest  thing  that  can  be 
done  for  the  shaping  of  character. 

These  conditions  of  human  nature — the 
response  to  observation,  the  desire  for 
knowledge  and  the  instinct  of  loyalty — 
must  be  taken  into  account  in  any  intelli- 
gent training  of  children.  They  are  funda- 
mental factors  in  the  problem  of  moral  edu- 
cation. The  importance  of  religion  in  the 
solution  of  this  problem  appears  in  the 
manner  in  which  it  meets  and  satisfies  these 
conditions.  It  is  necessary  to  the  health  of 
the  soul. 

31 


CHAPTER  III 

DOMESTIC  THEOLOGY:  I.  THE  BEING 
OF  GOD 

LL  parents  who  are  engaged  aright 
in  the  welfare  of  their  children  are 
called  to  practice  not  only  domestic 
medicine  but  domestic  theology.  They 
are  to  minister  both  to  the  health  of  the  body 
and  to  the  health  of  the  soul.  In  the  prog- 
ress of  each  of  these  ministries,  occasion 
may  arise  for  specialized,  expert  advice. 
When  the  child  shows  signs  of  serious  and 
complicated  physical  disturbance,  the  im- 
mediate thing  to  do  is  to  send  for  the  'doc- 
tor. And  when  the  child  gives  evidence  of 
serious  intellectual  or  moral  difficulty  in 
matters  of  religion,  which  the  best  endeav- 
ors of  the  family  wisdom  do  not  satisfac- 
torily meet,  the  thing  to  do  is  to  call  in  the 

32 


T'he  Being  of  God 


minister.  But  there  are  daily  troubles 
which  yield  readily  to  domestic  treatment. 
Such  treatment  implies  a  dealing  with  the 
health  of  the  soul  and  of  the  body  under 
unscientific  conditions. 

For  assistance  in  the  practice  of  domestic 
medicine  there  are  books  enough,  but  there 
seems  some  lack  of  similar  assistance  in  the 
field  of  domestic  theology.  What  is  needed 
is  some  elementary  statement  of  the  funda- 
mentals of  religious  truth  such  as  may  serve 
in  the  first  place  for  the  clarifying  of  the 
minds  of  unscientific  parents,  and  in  the 
second  place  for  the  transferring  of  ideas 
to  the  minds  of  children.  It  is  true  that 
children  are  not  interested  in  theology  on 
its  formal  or  philosophical  side;  they  are, 
however,  profoundly  interested  in  those 
aspects  of  theology  which  touch  their  own 
lives.  For  theology,  in  its  elementals,  deals 
with  questions  such  as  all  natural  children 
ask.  They  put  these  questions  to  their  par- 
ents. The  purpose  of  this  and  several  suc- 
2>Z 


^he  liraining  of  Children  in  Religion 

ceeding  chapters  is  to  suggest  parental  an- 
swers. Such  answers  cannot,  in  the  nature 
of  the  case,  be  adequate  or  final,  but  they 
should  meet  a  present  need. 

Chief  and  central  among  the  things 
which  a  child  ought  "to  know  and  believe 
to  his  souPs  health"  is  the  being  and  nature 
of  God.  For  religion  is  human  life  plus 
God.  It  is  our  common  round  of  duty  and 
pleasure,  of  work  and  play,  of  relation  to 
the  visible  and  tangible  w^orld,  pervaded 
by  a  consciousness  of  the  presence  of  God, 
and  interpreted  by  a  knowledge  of  the  will 
of  God.  It  is  illustrated  by  the  sense  of 
the  sea  in  the  people  of  a  harbor  town.  All 
the  customary  life  of  the  place, — its  buying 
and  selling,  its  eating  and  sleeping,  its 
streets  and  houses, — is  pervaded  by  the 
presence  of  the  sea.  The  smell  of  the  salt 
shore  is  in  the  air,  the  sound  of  the  surf  is 
an  undertone  beneath  all  other  sounds,  and 
the  sea  shines  at  the  end  of  the  street.  The 
whole  of  life  is  flavored  by  the  sea.     There 

34 


T'he  Being  of  God 


is  a  dim  consciousness  of  remote  distances, 
of  other  shores,  of  the  round  planet,  such 
as  does  not  easily  enter  into  the  minds  of 
those  who  live  in  the  interior  districts 
where  the  horizon  is  bounded  by  the  hills. 
This  indefinable  fascination  and  uplift  of 
the  sea  is  a  parable  of  the  divine  presence. 
And  one  of  the  initial  steps  in  the  education 
of  children  is  to  make  them  aware  of  it. 
They  are  to  be  initiated  into  the  great  secret 
of  the  unseen. 

It  is  essential  to  religion  that  one  shall  be 
aware  that  the  visible  world  is  not  the  whole 
of  the  universe.  In  Andersen's  story  of 
^The  Ugly  Duckling,"  the  little  ducks,  as 
they  come  out  of  the  shell,  blinking  at  the 
light,  cry,  "What  a  big  world  it  is!"  But 
the  mother  duck  says,  "Oh,  children,  the 
world  is  ever  so  much  bigger  than  you  can 
see;  it  extends  away  beyond  the  parson's 
garden."  Yes,  the  world  extends  beyond 
the  gardens  of  all  the  parsons,  even  beyond 
the  straight  fences  which  enclose  the  gar- 


T!'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

dens  of  the  men  of  science,  out  into  space, 
illimitable  and  inconceivable.  A  distinc- 
tive difference  betw^een  the  religious  person 
and  the  irreligious  person  is  that  the  re- 
ligious person  is  aw^are  of  their  vast  en- 
vironment, and  in  it  perceives  God,  the 
Maker  and  Maintainer  of  all  being. 

The  consciousness  of  God,  when  it  comes 
to  a  child  in  the  normal  way,  comes,  one 
might  say,  out  of  the  air.  It  is  breathed 
in,  like  most  of  the  elemental  facts  of  life. 
That  is,  the  child  finds  himself  in  a  world 
where  the  being  of  God  is  taken  for  granted 
as  naturally  as  it  is  in  the  Bible.  The  fact 
is  not  rested  upon  any  particular  process 
of  argument;  there  is  no  need  to  prove  it 
to  the  child;  it  is  a  general  possession,  a 
heritage  of  the  race. 

The  progress  of  the  race  is  in  many  ways 
a  story  of  the  progress  of  the  child.  The 
individual  lives  over  again  the  vast  experi- 
ence of  the  centuries,  and  verifies  the 
prophecies  of  all  the  past.     His  infantile 

36 


T'he  Being  of  God 


activity,  his  invincible  ambition  to  climb, 
is  a  survival  of  the  day  v^hen  his  ancestors 
lived  in  the  wild  woods.  His  slow  mastery 
of  words  indicates  the  long  lessons  whereby 
the  race  learned  the  great  art  of  speech, — 
from  imitative  sounds  to  names  and  nouns, 
from  nouns  to  adjectives,  thence  to  sen- 
tences. So  with  his  natural  tastes  and  in- 
terests. He  is  inquiring,  venturesome, 
selfish,  combative,  romantic  in  succession, 
as  the  blood  of  his  ancestors, — soldiers  and 
sailors,  knights  and  lovers, — stirs  in  his 
veins.  He  believes  easily  in  fairies  and 
genii,  in  giants  and  dragons,  and  takes  nat- 
urally to  the  stories  in  which  these  beings 
play  their  parts,  like  his  predecessors.  He 
likes  as  a  child  what  they  liked  as  grown 
men  and  women. 

The  fairy  stories  may  perhaps  minister  to 
that  period  of  the  child's  religious  life 
when  he  is  re-living  those  primitive  cen- 
turies in  which  man's  idea  of  God  took  the 
form  of  polytheism.  They  fill  the  world 
37 


T'he  Training  of  Childre72  in  Religion 

with  the  wonder  of  the  supernatural.  In 
the  fables,  the  animals  speak,  as  the  serpent 
speaks  in  Eden,  and  the  ass  in  Moab;  and 
the  children  are  no  more  surprised  than 
Eve  or  Balaam.  That  is  the  proper  pro- 
cedure ,  in  a  friendly  world.  Then  the 
story-telling  or  the  story-reading  goes  on  to 
the  great  fairy  tales  gathered  together  with 
pains  and  learning  by  the  brothers  Grimm. 
Here  are  the  beliefs  of  ancient  peoples, 
their  old  creeds  and  cults,  as  they  were  re- 
ceived by  simple  folk,  and  handed  down  to 
children  by  their  grandmothers.  The 
world  is  very  wonderful:  anything  may 
happen  any  day.  Any  common  road  may 
lead  to  an  enchanted  palace  where  a  prin- 
cess has  lain  asleep  a  thousand  years. 
Nothing  is  so  natural  as  the  supernatural. 
After  that,  the  stories  deal  with  the  great 
heroes,  whose  adventures  are  retold  by 
Hawthorne  or  by  Kingsley,  and  who  are  the 
actual  gods  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  world, 
— splendid,  marvelous  and  friendly  persons. 

38 


'T'he  Being  of  God 


Such  reading  as  this  provides  the  religion 
of  the  child  with  the  background  of  the 
experience  of  the  race.  It  is  in  accord 
with  his  normal  attitude  towards  the  world 
about  him.  It  appeals  to  two  conditions  of 
his  human  nature  at  his  age:  to  his  activ- 
ity and  to  his  imagination.  A  quiet,  re- 
strained, contemplative  or  philosophical 
religion,  excellent  for  adults,  is  as  remote 
from  the  interest  of  a  child  as  the  transac- 
tions of  a  bank.  And  an  accurate  and 
veracious  religion,  brought  into  strict  ac- 
cord with  natural  law,  divested  of  the 
miraculous,  and  applied  to  ethical  behav- 
ior, is  as  impossible  for  a  child  as  Kant's 
"Critique  of  Pure  Reason."  It  is  always 
essential  to  remember  that  children  are 
children.  They  are  so  to  be  dealt  with 
even  in  religion.  These  extremely  vigor- 
ous giants  and  heroes  of  the  old  stories  are 
mighty  pleasing  to  the  incessantly  active 
child;  and  their  adventures  feed  his  hungry 
imagination.  And  in  and  through  them  all 
39 


T^he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

there  is  conveyed  to  his  mind  the  idea  of 
an  unseen  environment.  Beyond  the  par- 
son's garden,  or  over  the  hill,  or  at  the  end 
of  the  road,  waits  a  disclosure  of  the  won- 
der of  the  world.  The  child  gets  in  some 
measure  what  his  forbears  got  from  poly- 
theism. The  supernatural  mingles  with 
the  natural.  Sun,  moon  and  stars,  winds 
and  thunder,  seas  and  hills,  animals  and 
flowers,  suggest  ideas  which  are  not  con- 
tained in  books  of  natural  history. 

As  men  progressed  in  religion,  and  passed 
out  of  polytheism,  they  entered  into  two 
quite  different  ideas  of  God.  One  of  these 
was  anthropomorphism,  the  belief  that  God 
is  like  us;  the  other  was  pantheism,  the  be- 
lief that  God  pervades  the  world. 

The  first  clear  thought  of  God  which  is 
possible  for  a  child  presents  him  as  the  su- 
preme hero  and  king,  a  >man  magnified  and 
perfected  and  glorified.  The  details  will 
differ  greatly  according  to  the  child's  sur- 
roundings, according  to  the  materials  which 
40 


T'he  Being  of  God 


are  provided  by  die  daily  life,  but  the  hu- 
man quality  is  essential.  In  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  God  comes  down  and  walks  among 
the  trees  in  the  cool  of  day,  the  shadows  fall 
upon  Him,  and  the  leaves  rustle  beneath 
His  feet.  Missing  Adam,  who  has  hid 
himself.  He  calls  aloud,  ''Adam!  Adam! 
Where  art  thou?"  This  is  very  different 
from  the  vision  of  Elijah  to  whom  God 
comes  not  in  the  whirlwind  nor  in  the  fire 
but  in  a  still  small  voice.  It  is  very  differ- 
ent from  the  pronouncement  of  the  New 
Testament,  "No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any 
time."  But  these  revelations  come  later. 
The  initial  conception  of  God  for  the  child, 
as  for  the  race,  perceives  God  as  a  man. 
He  is  resident  in  heaven. 

Afterwards,  we  correct  this  idea  by 
means  of  considerations  drawn  from  philos- 
ophy and  theology,  but  we  never  get  wholly 
away  from  it.  Nor  is  it  desirable  that  we 
should.  We  think,  inevitably,  in  terms  of 
our  own  nature.  If  in  the  course  of  time 
41 


T!'he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

we  lose  our  way  in  the  maze  of  metaphysics, 
there  is  the  one  thing  of  which  we  are  sure. 
We  are  certain  of  ourselves.  When  we 
think  of  the  Maker  of  us  and  of  all  things 
as  somehow  like  us  we  are  using  our  minds 
within  the  conditions  and  limitations  of  hu- 
man nature.  We  argue  truly  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown.  We  begin  with 
ourselves,  and  advance  easily  to  the  propo- 
sition that  God  is  the  superlative  of  man 
the  positive.  This  we  affirm  concerning 
our  powers  and  our  virtues.  Our  remote 
ancestors  affirmed  it  likewise  concerning 
our  parts  and  passions.  Even  after  they 
perceived  that  God  has  no  body,  such  as  we 
have,  they  continued  to  speak  of  Him  in 
bodily  terms.  Even  in  the  Apostles'  Creed, 
they  said  that  Jesus  ascended  into  heaven 
and  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 
And  the  idea  that  God  is  angry,  and  in  that 
spirit  will  execute  vengeance  on  those  who 
have  displeased  Him,  appears  with  startling 
frankness  in  the  Book  of  Revelation. 

42 


T^he  Being  of  God 


This  difficulty, — if  not  impossibility, — of 
thinking  of  God  in  other  than  human  form, 
is  to  be  taken  fully  into  account  in  teaching 
religion  to  children.  We  are  to  begin  with 
anthropomorphic  theology.  What  is  God 
like?  God  is  like  us.  We  have  never  seen 
Him.  Nobody  has  ever  seen  Him.  But 
He  made  us  in  His  own  image :  He  made  us 
like  Him.  And  where  is  God?  God  is  in 
heaven,  beyond  the  circle  of  the  sky,  among 
the  stars.  Nobody  knows,  indeed,  where 
heaven  is.  It  is  the  unseen  world,  beyond 
the  discovery  of  any  telescope.  It  is  the 
"other"  world.  It  may  be  presented  to  the 
imagination  of  the  child  as  lying  about  us 
somewhat  as  the  world  of  earth  and  air  lies 
about  the  world  of  water.  The  ocean  is  its 
own  world,  with  its  own  manner  and  con- 
ditions of  life,  and  they  who  live  in  it  can- 
not see  out  of  it.  They  have  no  idea  of  all 
this  world  of  hills  and  forests,  of  factories 
and  towns,  of  wonder  and  interest,  in  which 
we  have  our  being.  Thus  about  us,  in  our 
4  43 


'T^he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

lives,  may  be  that  celestial  world  in  which 
God  and  the  angels  and  the  spirits  of  the 
departed  have  their  residence. 

A  great  confusion  arises  in  the  minds  of 
children  when  we  endeavor  to  proceed  with 
them  from  the  first  idea  of  God  as  like  us 
to  the  second  idea  of  God  as  present  in  all 
the  world. 

They  can  understand  that  God  is  wiser 
than  any  man,  and  stronger  than  any  man, 
and  better  than  any  man,  but  yet  different 
from  man  only  as  the  superlative  differs 
from  the  positive,  but  when  we  tell  them 
that  God  is  present  always,  with  all  persons, 
everywhere,  they  are  perplexed;  and  the 
questions  which  they  ask  in  consequence 
perplex  and  baffle  us.  For  in  the  old  time, 
pantheism  went  along  with  polytheism. 
The  rare  spirits  of  the  race,  philosophers 
and  poets,  did  indeed  perceive  a  soul  of  the 
universe,  pervading  all  things  as  the  soul 
pervades  the  body,  but  people  in  general 
thought  that  the  world  was  full  of  gods. 
44 


^he  Being  of  God 


The  problem  of  the  divine  presence  in  more 
than  one  place  at  the  same  time  was  easy 
for  them.  The  idea  of  the  oneness  of  God, 
with  which  we  must  now  begin  the  instruc- 
tion of  our  children,  makes  the  omnipres- 
ence of  God  difficult  to  explain. 

Let  us  say,  then,  that  God  is  in  all  life 
as  the  sun  is  in  all  the  earth.  There  is  the 
sun,  shining  in  the  sky,  separate  from  the 
earth;  but  all  the  heat  of  the  earth,  and  all 
the  light  of  the  earth,  and  all  the  growth 
of  living  things  upon  the  earth, — plants, 
animals  and  people, — are  derived  from  the 
sun.  Without  the  sun,  all  this  would  cease 
to  be;  thus  they  are  sustained  by  the  sun. 
When  the  stick  of  wood  or  the  lump  of  coal 
burns,  the  heat  and  light  which  come  out 
were  stored  there  in  the  first  place  by  the 
sun.  In  this  sense  the  sun  is  in  all  the 
world:  in  every  tree,  in  every  blade  of 
grass,  in  every  motion  made  by  animals  or 
men.  Our  whole  life  is  pervaded  by  the 
sun.  Thus  the  answer  to  the  question, 
45 


T^he  'T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

Where  is  the  sun?  is  the  statement  that  the 
sun  is  in  the  sky  and  at  the  same  time  in  all 
the  earth.  And  this  omnipresence  of  the 
sun  is  a  parable  of  the  omnipresence  of 
God.  God  is  in  heaven,  and  at  the  same 
time  in  all  the  world.  He  is  with  us  al- 
ways, and  no  matter  where  we  go,  because 
our  whole  life  depends  upon  God.  His 
life  surrounds  and  pervades  our  life  like  the 
air,  like  the  universal  influence  of  the  sun. 

Or,  we  may  return  to  the  parable  of  the 
mystics  and  say  that  God  is  in  the  world 
as  our  self  is  in  our  body.  Our  self  resides 
in  every  part  of  our  body.  Our  life  keeps 
the  body  alive.  Any  hurt  to  any  part  of  the 
body  hurts  us.  Our  self  is  in  all  parts  of 
our  body  at  the  same  time.  And  our  self 
is  invisible  and  intangible.  We  cannot  see 
our  self  any  more  than  we  can  see  God. 
Thus  the  unseen  God  is  in  the  universe. 
He  is  in  the  remotest  star  and  at  the  same 
time  in  the  smallest  child,  as  our  self  is  at 
the  same  time  in  our  brain  and  in  the  tip 

46 


T'he  Bemg  of  God 


of  each  of  our  little  fingers.  He  is  at  the 
same  time  in  all  life  and  yet  distinct  from 
all  life,  like  the  self  or  the  soul  which  is  in 
the  body  and  yet  not  the  body. 

Thus  to  the  child's  insistent  question,  Is 
God  here?  is  He  there?  is  He  in  the  fire?  is 
He  in  the  closet?  is  He  in  the  tree?  we  may 
answer.  Yes,  God  is  in  the  fire  or  in  the  tree, 
like  the  sun ;  He  is  in  you  and  in  your  friend 
across  the  ocean,  as  your  self  is  in  your  two 
thumbs.  God  is  in  heaven,  as  the  sun  is  in 
the  sky,  as  the  soul  is  in  the  body,  pervading 
all  the  world. 

The  explanation  of  the  omnipresence  of 
God  by  the  parable  of  the  soul  in  the  body 
suggests  also  an  answer  to  the  difficulty  pre- 
sented by  the  divine  invisibility.  How  can 
we  know  that  God  is,  when  we  cannot  see 
Him?  How  do  you  know,  says  the  teacher, 
that  I  am?  You  cannot  see  me.  You  can 
see  what  I  do.  You  can  see  how  I  use  this 
body  in  which  I  live.  You  can  hear  what 
I  say.  You  know  that  I  love  you.  But  all 
47 


T'he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

the  time  I  myself, — the  living  being  to 
whom  this  body  belongs, — am  as  invisible 
as  God.  We  cannot  see  God,  but  we  can 
see  what  He  does.  We  can  see  this  uni- 
verse of  stars  and  hills  and  people,  in  which 
He  lives  as  the  soul  lives  in  the  body. 


CHAPTER    IV 

DOMESTIC  THEOLOGY:  11.  THE  NA- 
TURE OF  GOD 

CHE  first  step  in  a  child's  theology 
is  a  realization  of  the  being  of  God. 
He  is  to  understand  that  God  is. 
The  next  step  is  some  perception  of  the  re- 
lation between  God  and  us.  The  child  is 
to  realize  the  nature  of  God. 

God  made  us  and  all  the  world.  The 
story  of  it  is  in  the  beginning  of  the  Bible. 
A  little  part  of  the  wonder  of  the  world  we 
may  see  with  our  own  eyes,  but  more  and 
more  of  it  appears  as  we  study  the  books  of 
those  who  have  studied  the  world — books 
of  astronomy,  of  geology,  of  botany,  books 
about  beasts  and  birds  and  fishes.  Even 
with  all  this  put  together,  we  are  but  begin- 
ning to  be  acquainted  with  the  forms  and 
49 


T'he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

the  forces,  the  mysteries  and  the  beauties  of 
the  world. 

God  made  the  world,  not  as  a  carpenter 
makes  a  house  by  gathering  together  a 
quantity  of  materials  and  placing  one  upon 
another;  but  rather  in  the  likeness  of  the 
growth  of  a  tree,  which  begins  with  a  seed, 
in  which  are  two  wonderful  and  mysterious 
things,  matter  and  life.  When  we  ask. 
Where  did  matter  come  from?  and.  Where 
did  life  come  from?  we  can  only  answer 
that  God  brought  them  into  being  we  know 
not  how.  The  world  began  with  matter 
and  life,  and  these  two,  when  they  are  com- 
bined, result  in  what  we  call  growth.  In 
the  tree,  by  the  processes  of  growth,  the 
matter  and  life  which  are  in  the  seed  grow 
into  stem  and  leaves,  and  trunk  and 
branches,  and  thus  into  a  great  tree.  And 
in  the  world,  the  land  and  the  sea,  and  all 
things  that  grow  out  of  them  and  that  live 
in  them,  come  from  the  beginning  of  mat- 
ter and  of  life  nobody  knows  how  many 

50 


^he  Nature  of  God 


hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  ago.  And 
that  is  repeated  all  the  time,  in  all  the 
changing  seasons,  in  all  the  harvests,  and 
in  all  birth  of  animals  and  of  human  beings. 
Matter  and  life  and  growth  are  still  mys- 
teries which  nobody  understands,  and  they 
are  at  the  heart  of  all  existence.  We  put 
the  seed  in  the  ground,  but  God  makes  it 
grow. 

Even  we  ourselves  come  into  being  by 
means  of  matter  and  life  and  growth. 
Every  one  of  us  was  once  a  very  tiny  par- 
ticle of  matter,  less  than  the  smallest  seed. 
In  this  particle  was  life.  Then  it  grew  in 
the  body  of  our  mother,  kept  safe  there  from 
all  harm  and  nourished  as  the  seed  is  nour- 
ished in  the  earth.  Little  by  little  it  grew 
and  came  into  shape,  with  body  and  head 
and  arms  and  legs,  formed  day  by  day  un- 
der the  care  of  God.  By  and  by,  the  tiny 
living  particle  became  a  baby  and  was 
ready  to  leave  the  body  of  the  mother  and 
begin  to  live  in  the  world.     When  that  hap- 

51 


T^he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

pened  we  were  born.  That  was  our  birth- 
day. This  is  how  all  little  children  come 
into  the  world,  according  to  this  wonderful 
and  mysterious  working  of  God. 

After  the  child  is  thus  taught  our  rela- 
tionship to  God  as  our  Maker,  he  may  be 
made  to  understand  something  of  our  rela- 
tionship to  God  as  our  Father.  Big  and 
little,  old  and  young,  we  are  all  children 
in  the  great  family  of  God.  Not  only  has 
God  made  us  and  all  the  world,  but  He  takes 
care  of  us  and  of  all  things.  He  has  set 
the  sun  to  give  us  light  by  day  and  the  moon 
and  the  stars  to  shine  by  night.  And  He 
feels  concerning  us  as  a  father  feels  con- 
cerning his  children:  that  is.  He  loves  us, 
and  He  wishes  us  to  be  well  and  good  and 
happy,  and  desires  us  to  live  together  in 
peace  and  pleasantness. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  for  children 
to  understand  fully  the  occupations  or 
methods  or  motives  of  their  parents.  Such 
an  understanding  requires  more  experience 

52 


T'he  Nature  of  God 


than  they  have  had.  The  father  goes  to  his 
business,  the  mother  administers  her  house- 
hold, and  much  the  greater  part  of  these 
two  worlds  is  wholly  beyond  the  knowledge 
of  the  child.  To  explain  them  to  the  child 
would  be  to  use  words  which  have  no  mean- 
ing, because  they  are  not  related  to  anything 
which  has  entered  as  yet  into  the  child's 
life.  The  fact  is  an  easy  parable  of  our 
inevitable  ignorance  of  God.  Our  Father's 
business  is  beyond  the  understanding  of  the 
wisest  of  us  His  children.  After  all  the 
studies  of  the  sages,  we  do  but  know  in 
part,  and  in  small  part.  For  our  Father's 
business  is  the  administration  of  the  uni- 
verse. It  takes  in  all  the  operations  of 
light  and  heat,  all  the  mysteries  of  fire  and 
flood,  of  tempest  and  earthquake,  of  life  and 
death,  and  extends  to  stars  which  are  so  far 
away  that  the  distance  from  us  to  them  may 
be  measured  only  by  uncountable  millions 
of  miles.  Sometimes  we  can  answer  the 
question,  Why  did  God  do  that?  but  many 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

times  we  can  no  more  explain  it  than  a 
mother  can  explain  to  a  child  the  relation 
between  a  holiday  in  the  country  and  a  rise 
or  decline  in  the  price  of  stocks.  The  fact 
of  the  fatherhood  of  God  carries  with  it  this 
impossibility  of  explaining  to  a  child  or  to 
anybody  else  such  difficulties  as  the  problem 
of  pain.  We  may  say  this  or  that,  more  or 
less  wisely,  but  we  must  presently  confess 
that  we  do  not  know. 

It  is  important  that  this  confession  of  our 
ignorance  be  made  as  a  positive  not  as  a 
negative  statement.  That  is,  it  should  be 
taken  by  the  child  not  as  an  evasion  or  dis- 
missal of  the  subject,  or  as  a  disclosure  of 
our  lack  of  learning,  but  rather  as  an  asser- 
tion of  the  universal  fact  of  mystery.  The 
child  is  to  understand  that  there  is  much 
which  lies  beyond  the  most  far-seeing  sight. 
The  world  of  the  known  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  world  of  the  unknown  as  a  settler's 
clearing  is  in  the  midst  of  a  forest.  That 
unknown  world  is  as  much  a  part  of  the 

54 


T^he  Nature  of  God 


geography  of  human  life  as  South  America 
or  Germany.  There  it  is.  The  child's  un- 
answerable question  is  an  opportunity  for  us 
to  make  him  aware  of  its  existence.  The 
fatherhood  of  God,  relating  Him  to  us  as 
the  mature  man  is  related  to  the  little  child, 
reveals  this  vast  tract  of  method  and  of 
motive  into  which  we  cannot  enter.  The 
honest  answer  is,  "I  do  not  know.  I  can- 
not explain  it  to  you,  nor  even  to  myself, 
any  more  than  we  can  explain  to  the  baby 
why  he  cannot  have  whatever  he  sees  on 
the  table,  or  why  he  has  to  take  unpleasant 
medicine." 

Then,  to  this  assertion  of  mystery,  must 
be  added  the  assertion  of  providence.  The 
fatherhood  of  God  means  not  only  that  we 
cannot  understand  God,  but  that,  even 
when  we  cannot  understand  Him,  we  can 
trust  Him.  We  may  rely  upon  His  in- 
finite wisdom,  who  knows  our  necessities 
before  we  ask  and  our  ignorance  in  asking, 
and  who  does  that  which  is  right  and  best. 


'The  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

It  is  right  and  best,  because  He  does  it. 
To  our  confession  of  ignorance,  then,  we 
are  to  add  our  confession  of  faith.  We  are 
to  say,  *'One  thing  I  know,  and  that  is  that 
God  is  our  Father.  He  carries  on  the 
world  according  to  His  divine  providence, 
according  to  His  infinite  plan  which  I  can- 
not understand,  but  into  which  all  the  per- 
plexities and  distresses  of  our  lives  fit.  It 
is  somehow  right.  ^The  Lord  gave,  and 
the  Lord  hath  taken  away:  blessed  be  the 
name  of  the  Lord.'  " 

Suppose,  however,  that  according  to  the 
insistent  logic  of  youth,  the  questioning 
does  not  cease  even  at  this  point.  The  mind 
of  the  child  is  not  content  with  your  ex- 
planation of  the  mystery  of  the  world  in 
terms  of  providence.  *'How  do  you  know," 
he  asks,  ^'that  God  is  good?  In  the  face  of 
such  difficulty  as  this,  in  the  presence  of 
such  a  contradiction  of  the  loving  provi- 
dence of  God,  whence  does  this  assurance 
come?" 

56 


^he  Nature  of  God 


It  may  be  possible  to  answer  this  ques- 
tion out  of  our  own  experience.  We  may 
be  able  to  say  that  the  care  and  love  of  God 
have  been  plain  in  our  lives:  He  has  led 
us  all  the  way  along,  protected  us  against 
peril,  strengthened  us  against  temptation, 
brought  us  into  the  presence  of  opportunity 
and  helped  us  to  make  the  most  of  it.  We 
may  be  able  to  say  that  we  are  sure  that 
this  present  difficulty  or  trouble  is  somehow 
for  the  best,  because  we  have  found  that  to 
be  true  of  many  troubles  and  difficulties  in 
the  past.  At  the  moment,  we  cannot  un- 
derstand. How  the  love  of  God  is  present 
in  our  sorrow,  we  cannot  see.  But  God  is 
our  wise  and  loving  Father:  we  know  that 
by  experience. 

If  we  cannot  honestly  say  that,  then  we 
may  base  our  confidence  in  the  fatherhood 
of  God  upon  the  Bible.  When  we  wish  to 
know  about  the  stars,  we  study  the  astrono- 
mies; when  we  wish  to  know  about  the 
flowers,  we  study  the  botanies;  when  we 
57 


T'he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

wish  to  know  about  the  nature  of  God,  we 
study  the  Bible.  For  the  Bible  was  writ- 
ten by  men  who  knew  as  much  more  about 
God  than  we  do  as  the  astronomers  and  the 
botanists  know  more  than  we  do  about  the 
stars  and  the  flowers.  And  the  Bible  is  a 
record  of  the  experience  of  hundreds  of 
years.  This  experience,  as  explained  by 
these  men,  shows  that  God  loves  us,  that  He 
cares  for  us  as  a  father  for  his  children,  and 
that  in  His  providence  all  things  work  to- 
gether for  our  good. 

This  assurance  of  the  love  of  God  is  con- 
firmed by  all  the  beautiful  and  happy  ex- 
periences of  life,  and  may  profitably  be 
associated  with  them.  The  child  is  to  be 
made  to  feel  that  he  lives  in  a  world  of  good 
intention,  in  a  friendly  universe.  The  hu- 
man instinct,  going  back  to  the  days  of  con- 
stant contention  with  savage  beasts  and 
hostile  neighbors,  puts  us  in  fear.  We  are 
afraid,  by  nature,  of  solitary  places  and  of 
the  dark.     The  sense  of  the  friendly  and 

58 


T'he  Nature  of  God 


fatherly  presence  of  God  helps  children  to 
overcome  these  fears,  and  thus  increases  the 
joy  of  life  by  taking  away  some  of  its  terror. 
And  it  deepens  and  enriches  the  joy  of  life 
by  bringing  a  celestial  meaning  into  all  fair 
skies,  and  scenes,  and  pleasant  times. 

But  the  fatherhood  of  God  implies  not 
only  the  divine  love  but  the  divine  w^ill. 
Before  the  child  learns  to  walk  or  talk,  he 
is  made  aware  of  the  fact  of  prohibition. 
The  initial  discipline  is  negative.  There 
are  things  which  he  must  not  touch,  or  can- 
not have.  One  of  the  first  words  which  he 
comes  to  understand  is  the  word  "No";  and 
he  begins  his  lessons  in  verbs  with  the  im- 
perative "Don't."  He  perceives  that  an 
important  part  of  the  difficult  art  of  living 
consists  in  the  obligation  of  obedience.  His 
parents  are  persons  who  are  not  content  to 
love  him  and  care  for  him  but  who  insist 
on  controlling  him,  much  against  his  will. 
It  is  easy  for  him  to  grasp  the  idea  that 
God,  our  Father  in  Heaven,  has  the  same 
5  59 


'The  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

mind  towards  us,  and  the  same  desire  to 
have  His  will  obeyed.  The  domestic  reg- 
ulations have  a  new  sanction  when  they  are 
understood  to  be  the  will  of  God.  And 
there  is  a  new  interest  in  obeying  them  when 
the  child  finds  that  his  father  and  mother 
are  under  obedience  also. 

When  the  time  comes  for  the  beginning 
of  definite  instruction,  the  first  lessons  will 
follow  the  order  of  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. These  will  be  learned  by  heart,  and 
explained  according  to  the  child's  measure 
of  understanding.  The  first  two  command- 
ments are  somewhat  remote  in  their  state- 
ment from  our  present  lives;  one  being 
directed  against  polytheism,  and  the  other 
against  idolatry,  and  neither  of  these  sins 
being  formally  present  in  our  neighbor- 
hood. Some  information  may  be  given 
here  about  the  great  religions  of  other 
lands,  where  people  have  not  yet  learned  so 
much  about  God  as  we  know,  where  they 
still  believe  in  many  gods,  each  having  his 

60 


T'he  Nature  of  God 


own  locality  or  occasion,  and  where  they 
still. make  use  of  images.  Even  thus  early 
in  the  child's  religion  there  may  be  some 
natural  instruction  in  the  meaning  of  mis- 
sions: to  share  our  truth  with  others,  espe- 
cially to  share  our  happiness  by  extending 
the  gospel,  which  is  the  good  news  that  God 
is  kind  and  loving,  and  cares,  and  is  our 
Father.  As  for  us,  we  keep  the  first  com- 
mandment when  we  realize  God,  having 
Him  in  our  thoughts  and  trying  to  please 
Him.  And  we  keep  the  second  command- 
ment when  we  worship  God  and  pray  to 
Him  aright,  behaving  ourselves  reverently, 
keeping  our  eyes  and  our  minds  from  idle 
wandering. 

Most  of  the  other  commandments  sug- 
gest their  own  interpretation.  The  sev- 
enth comes  into  relation  with  childhood  in 
its  implication  of  the  sacredness  of  the  body. 
The  tenth  means  that  all  evil  deeds  and 
words  begin  as  evil  thoughts,  and  that  the 
thing  to  do  is  to  stop  that  kind  of  thinking: 
6i 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

when  such  a  thought  tries  to  come  in  we 
are  to  put  it  out  by  saying  No. 

After  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  next 
lessons  in  the  will  of  God  may  follow  the 
order  of  the  Eight  Beatitudes.  This  se- 
quence is  topical  as  well  as  chronological: 
first  the  negative,  then  the  positive;  first 
laws,  then  ideals.  Thus  it  is  that  human 
life  proceeds.  The  Beatitudes,  like  the 
Commandments,  suggest  obvious  and  im- 
mediate applications.  Three  times  the 
Lord  blesses  discontent,  when  He  praises 
the  poor,  the  sad  and  the  hungry,  and  prom- 
ises that  they  shall  be  satisfied  presently. 
These  conditions  are  the  opposite  of  self- 
conceit.  The  blessing  is  upon  the  humble- 
minded,  who  have  no  idea  that  they  know 
it  all,  but  are  honestly  desirous  to  improve 
themselves.  They  have  aspirations  and 
ideals,  they  are  looking  forward  to  some- 
thing and  hoping  and  working  to  attain 
it.  Twice  He  blesses  service.  Blessed  are 
the  merciful,  who  are  engaged  in  the  abo- 

62 


'The  Nature  of  God 


lition  of  pain.  It  means  physicians,  who 
are  contending  with  disease,  and  reformers 
who  are  fighting  the  battles  of  the  weak 
against  the  selfishness  and  cruelty  of  the 
strong.  And  blessed  are  the  peacemakers 
who  are  engaged  in  the  abolition  of  strife 
and  hatred.  It  means  lawyers,  who  are 
trying  to  defend  people  against  injustice; 
and  all  others,  old  and  young,  who  endeavor 
to  bring  about  a  better  understanding,  to 
stop  fighting  and  to  reconcile  enemies. 
Once  He  blesses  sincerity,  when  He  praises 
the  pure  in  heart.  These  are  they  who  are 
without  hypocrisy,  and  who  habitually 
speak  the  truth.  To  be  faithful  to  one's 
own  convictions,  to  be  loyal  to  one's  ideals ; 
under  difficulty,  in  the  midst  of  adverse  cir- 
cumstances, in  a  minority,  to  maintain  the 
right, — it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  and 
one  of  the  most  heroic  of  occupations. 
Once  He  blesses  constancy,  when  He 
praises  those  who  are  persecuted.  They 
would  not  be  persecuted  if  they  were  will- 

63 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

ing  to  submit.  Once  He  blesses  meekness. 
But  that  virtue  does  not  consist  in  quietness 
and  silence,  in  folded  hands  and  down-cast 
eyes,  and  in  the  prudent  quality  of  having 
no  opinion  of  one's  own.  The  briefest 
reading  in  the  life  of  Moses  will  contradict 
that  common  error.  The  "meekest  man," 
as  he  was  described  in  the  New  England 
Primer,  was  meek  in  that  he  did  not  con- 
tend for  his  own  rights,  he  was  not  self- 
seeking  nor  self-assertive;  but  the  people 
over  whom  he  ruled  were  made  aware  of 
his  strength  of  will  every  day  he  lived. 

These  lessons  in  the  Commandments  and 
the  Beatitudes  may  be  illustrated  by  refer- 
ence to  the  examples  of  persons  in  history 
or  fiction  who  lived  either  in  obedience  or 
disobedience  to  them.  As  a  child  grows 
older  and  reads  more,  this  sort  of  connection 
may  profitably  be  established  between  his 
books  and  his  religion.  Thus  the  first  com- 
mandment with  its  call  to  the  sole  worship 
of  God  may  be  illuminated  by  the  story  of 

64 


T'he  Nature  of  God 


Elijah  putting  the  choice  between  God  and 
the  gods  to  the  people  on  Mount  Carmel, 
and  enforcing  it  by  the  argument  of  fire; 
or  by  the  story  of  King  Midas,  as  Haw- 
thorne tells  it  in  "The  Golden  Touch,"  who 
made  money  his  god,  by  caring  more  for 
gold  than  for  anything  else  in  the  world. 
The  second  commandment  may  be  illus- 
trated by  pictures  of  idols  in  pagan  temples, 
or  by  idols  themselves  brought  back  from 
pagan  countries,  or  by  the  adventures  of 
David  Livingstone,  or  by  the  account  of  the 
destruction  of  the  image  of  Serapis  at  Alex- 
andria, as  it  is  given  by  Gibbon  in  the  twen- 
ty-eighth chapter  of  the  "Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Empire."  For  the  third 
commandment,  reference  may  be  made  to 
the  martyrdom  of  St.  Polycarp,  described 
by  Farrar  in  his  "Lives  of  the  Fathers," 
called  upon  to  revile  Christ,  and  answering, 
"Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  Him. 
How  can  I  speak  evil  of  my  King,  who 
saved    me?"    and    choosing    rather    to    be 

65 


The  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

burned  alive  than  to  take  that  holy  name  in 
vain.  For  the  fourth  commandment,  there 
is  the  grim  Old  Testament  story  of  the  man 
who  gathered  sticks  on  the  sabbath  day,  to 
be  balanced  by  the  many  accounts  in  the 
gospels  of  our  Lord's  deeds  of  mercy 
whereby  He  proclaimed  the  sabbath  as  a 
time  for  all  good  and  kindly  service.  For 
the  fifth  commandment,  there  is  the  exam- 
ple of  China,  oldest  of  existing  nations,  and 
verifying  to  this  day  the  promise  of  long 
life  to  those  who  honor  their  father  and 
their  mother.  It  is  a  national  even  more 
than  an  individual  promise,  and  bases  the 
stability  of  nations  on  the  virtues  of  respect 
and  reverence  for  age  and  authority. 

The  illustrations  of  the  sixth  command- 
ment begin  with  Cain  and  come  down 
through  the  blood-stained  pages  of  all  the 
histories  to  the  current  daily  paper. 
Nathan  rebuked  David,  and  John  the  Bap- 
tist rebuked  Herod,  for  breaking  the  sev- 
enth    commandment.     Examples    of     the 

66 


T^he  Nature  of  God 


breaking  of  the  eighth  commandment,  be- 
ginning with  the  golden  wedge  of  Achan 
in  the  book  of  Joshua,  come  down  to  the 
newspaper  chronicle  of  our  contemporary 
life.  At  this  moment,  in  a  Chinese  prison, 
lies  a  scholar  and  a  Christian  whose  neigh- 
bor swore  falsely  that  he  was  guilty  of  sedi- 
tion; such  false  witness  was  borne  in  France 
not  long  ago  against  Dreyfus.  King  Ahab 
coveted  the  vineyard  of  Naboth,  and  his 
covetousness  led  him  into  grievous  crime. 
Thus  one  may  go  also  through  the  Beati- 
tudes, choosing  incidents  which  bring  them 
out  of  precept  into  vital  reality.  Children 
who  are  studying  history  and  literature  will 
be  interested  to  see  what  examples  they  can 
find  of  these  declarations  of  the  will  of  God. 
And  the  search  and  discovery  will  serve  to 
impress  upon  them  the  truth  that  goodness 
and  satisfaction  and  badness  and  sorrow  are 
bound  up  together,  like  the  seed  and  the 
harvest.  It  takes  some  time  for  this  sort 
of  seed  to  grow,  but  it  grows. 

67 


CHAPTER   V 

DOMESTIC  THEOLOGY:  III.  THE  MANI- 
FESTATION OF  GOD 

^  yLL  our  knowledge  of  the  being  and 
m  I  of  the  nature  of  God  is  brought 
forward  into  clearness  and  assur- 
ance by  the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  love  and  power  and  will  of  God  are 
made  manifest  in  the  world  about  us,  in 
the  long  experience  which  is  recorded  in 
history,  and  in  the  course  of  our  individual 
lives.  These  are  fair  premises  from  which 
to  deduce  conclusions.  They  are  the  nat- 
ural evidences  of  religion.  These  revela- 
tions, however,  disclose  God  as  the  sun  is 
seen  through  clouded  glass.  God  is  re- 
vealed, but  somewhat  uncertainly  and 
dimly.     It  is  even  possible,  if  one  will,  to 

68 


T'he  Manifestation  of  God 

maintain  that  this  is  a  bad  and  malignant 
world,  and  that  the  Supreme  Power  under 
whose  direction  human  life  proceeds,  is  in- 
different or  careless  or  hostile.  These  are 
the  inferences  which  are  readily  drawn 
from  the  facts  when  calamities  come  upon 
communities,  or  when  disease  or  bereave- 
ment visits  the  individual.  We  need, 
therefore,  a  more  substantial  evidence,  a 
more  satisfactory  and  certain  interpretation 
of  the  meaning  of  the  world.  We  need  a 
clearer  sight  of  God  than  we  get  of  the  sun 
through  clouded  glass. 

But  suppose  there  is  in  the  clouded  glass 
a  single  clear  place;  through  that  we  look 
and  see  the  sun.  There  shines  the  real  sun. 
Even  now  we  are  not  beholding  the  sun  in 
its  perfect  beauty;  it  is  too  remote  for  that. 
Even  the  telescope  gives  us  only  a  sight  of 
the  sun  which  is  but  a  glimpse  of  its  actual 
glory.  Still,  this  is  a  true  sight  of  the  sun. 
Glimpses  such  as  this  are  given  us  in  the 
lives  of  all  good  men  and  women,  and  in 

69 


The  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

our  own  ideals  of  what  is  fine  and  worthy 
and  noble.  When  the  prophet  Hosea,  in 
the  midst  of  his  domestic  tragedy,  suddenly 
said  to  himself,  "It  must  be  that  God  loves 
His  sinful  people  at  least  as  much  as  I  love 
my  unfaithful  wife  in  spite  of  her  unfaith- 
fulness," he  argued  reasonably  from  him- 
self to  God.  It  is  plain,  the  moment  we 
think  of  it,  that  God  is  all  that  we  are  at 
our  best,  and  more  infinitely.  The  father- 
hood of  God  implies  all  that  is  contained 
in  our  best  fatherhood  and  motherhood  and 
inconceivably  more  also.  The  idea  that 
any  mother  loves  her  unworthy  son  more 
than  God  does,  is  absurd  on  the  face  of  it. 
Our  affection,  then,  is  a  revelation  of  the 
divine  affection.  So  it  is  with  our  ideals 
of  what  is  just  and  reasonable  and  right. 

Then  we  advance  to  greater  clearness 
when  we  consider  the  best  persons  whom 
we  know  and  of  whom  we  read  in  history, — 
the  saints  in  the  calendars,  in  the  histories, 
and  in  those  calendars  and  histories  which 

70 


T^he  Manifestation  of  God 

are  kept  only  in  our  memory.  We  may 
say  to  ourselves  and  to  our  children  in  the 
consciousness  of  excellence  like  this,  ''Here 
is  a  sight  of  God.  You  ask  what  God  is 
like:  He  is  like  such  and  such  a  person 
whom  you  admire  and  love,  differing  only 
as  the  sun  differs  from  the  candle." 

The  next  advance  toward  the  knowledge 
of  God  is  to  perceive  Him  in  the  best  of 
all  men,  in  the  flower  and  ideal  of  the  hu- 
man race.  I  mean,  of  course,  in  Jesus 
Christ.  In  Him  our  humanity  is  lifted  up 
into  divinity,  because  in  His  perfection 
God  is  perceived  with  a  new  vision.  We 
understand  without  argument  that  what- 
ever else  and  beyond  the  Maker  of  the 
world  may  be,  He  is  like  Christ.  Christ 
interprets  to  us  the  moral  possibilities  of 
God.  Since  He  lived  and  taught  and  died, 
our  idea  of  God  has  been  greatly  changed 
and  enlarged  and  bettered.  We  did  not 
know  what  virtues  were  inherent  in  human- 
ity till  He  showed  what  a  man  might  be  by 
71 


The  Training  of  Children  i?2  Religion 

our  sight  of  Him.  And  thus  He  revealed 
God.  In  Him,  as  in  a  clear  place  in  the 
clouded  glass,  clear  as  crystal,  we  see  God. 
The  knowledge  of  Him  is,  for  all  the  pur- 
poses of  religion,  the  knowledge  of  God. 
When  we  would  think  the  truest  thoughts 
of  the  love  and  will  of  God,  we  think  of  the 
manifestation  of  that  love  and  will  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

For  example,  the  idea  of  the  self-sacri- 
fice of  God  comes  into  human  thought  with 
Jesus  Christ.  The  idea  of  the  power  of 
God  is  common  in  all  religions;  and  the 
Old  Testament  religion  maintained  also 
God's  tender  care  for  man.  But  there  was 
a  certain  withholding  of  Himself,  a  certain 
detachment  between  Him  and  us.  Most 
religions  have  believed  in  the  jealousy  of 
God.  He  is  afraid,  they  said,  that  we  shall 
somehow  get  too  wise  and  strong  for  Him. 
Thus  even  in  the  beginning  of  the  Bible, 
He  turns  our  first  parents  out  of  the  Gar- 
den lest  they  eat  of  the  tree  of  life  and  live 

72 


'The  Manifestatioi2  of  God 

forever;  and  He  comes  down  to  see  the 
Tower  of  Babel  and  is  alarmed  at  the  hu- 
man power  displayed  there.  'This  they 
begin  to  do,"  He  says,  ''and  now  nothing 
will  be  restrained  from  them,  which  they 
have  imagined  to  do" ;  and  He  takes  imme- 
diate measures  to  scatter  men  and  weaken 
them.  In  classic  mythology,  which  is  the 
theological  belief  of  the  Greeks  expressed 
in  the  language  of  symbol,  the  hero  of  self- 
sacrifice  is  Prometheus,  who  brings  down 
fire  for  us  from  heaven,  and  therefore  suf- 
fers forever  at  the  hands  of  the  revengeful 
gods.  But  in  Jesus,  the  manifestation  of 
the  divine,  suffering  for  us  on  the  cross, 
God  appears  as  possessing  the  supreme  vir- 
tue of  self-sacrifice.  He  gives  the  ultimate 
evidence  of  love.  He  "so  loved  the  world" 
as  to  suffer  for  our  sake. 

Thus  theology  is  presented  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  terms  of  personality.     This 
is  the  manner  of  the  Bible.     And  it  is  a  man- 
ner which  appeals  to  the  understanding  of 
73 


'^he  'T'raining  of  Childrefi  in  Religion 

a  child.  For  personality  is  not  only  the 
form  in  which  all  the  virtues  are  most 
attractively  and  convincingly  set  forth,  but 
it  is  also  the  easiest  of  all  the  arguments 
for  truth.  Truth  may  be  attained  as  the 
result  of  a  long  and  laborious  process  of 
research  and  of  reasoning.  It  is  to  be 
sought  that  way  by  those  who  are  qualified 
to  undertake  the  task.  But  for  most  peo- 
ple, and  for  all  children,  truth  is  the  affir- 
mation of  authority.  We  believe  because 
we  are  told  the  truth  by  those  in  whom  we 
confide.  We  cannot  work  the  matter  out, 
we  cannot  answer  opposing  questions,  but 
we  can  say  this :  ''I  go  to  One  whose  knowl- 
edge exceeds  mine  a  thousand-fold.  I  am 
ignorant,  and  with  all  my  possible  study- 
ing, I  never  expect  to  approach  His  wis- 
dom. He  will  tell  me  what  I  desire  to 
know.  And  when  He  tells  me,  then  I 
know.  My  mind  is  at  rest."  This  is  an 
ordinary  procedure  in  matters  of  science; 
where  we  accept  the  word  of  the  great  sci- 

74 


'The  Manifestation  of  God 

entific  masters.  It  is  equally  reasonable  in 
religion.  Here  we  resort  to  the  supreme 
Spiritual  Master.  To  Him  we  bring  our 
children.  As  to  prayer,  as  to  the  father- 
hood of  God,  as  to  the  life  to  come,  as  to  all 
our  difficulties,  we  consult  Him,  and  are 
content.  ^'Lord,"  we  say,  "Thou  hast  the 
words  of  eternal  life." 

Also,  by  means  of  this  personality  we 
bring  our  knowledge  forward  into  belief. 
An  ancient  and  familiar  prescription  of 
advice  to  parents  about  the  training  of  their 
children  in  religion  counsels  them  to  teach 
"the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Ten 
Commandments,  and  all  other  things  which 
a  Christian  ought  to  know  and  believe  to 
his  soul's  health."  This  implies  that  the 
health  of  the  soul  which  we  have  been  con- 
sidering, is  not  a  matter  of  knowledge  only. 
It  is  not  effectively  secured  by  the  impart- 
ing of  information.  It  involves  believing. 
And  believing  means  the  individual  appre- 
hension of  truth.  That  which  we  believe, 
6  75 


^he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

we  have  taken  into  our  attention,  and  then 
have  given  it  our  allegiance,  and  are  now 
trying  to  interpret  this  allegiance  in  terms 
of  actual  application.  What  is  further 
needed,  then,  for  the  soul's  health  is  a  reali- 
zation of  these  things :  of  the  being  of  God, 
as  one  to  whom  we  are  akin,  so  that  we  may 
think  of  Him  as  like  us ;  and  yet  as  one  who 
is  present  in  all  life,  as  the  sun  is  present 
in  the  world^  and  the  soul  in  the  body;  of 
the  nature  of  God,  as  our  Maker  and  our 
Father;  of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  as  bring- 
ing with  it  both  His  love  and  His  will ;  and 
of  the  will  of  God,  as  set  forth,  in  successive 
steps  of  spiritual  progress,  in  the  Com- 
mandments and  in  the  Beatitudes.  Our 
problem  now  is  how  to  make  all  this  real 
and  vital  to  the  child;  how  to  bring  the 
child  from  assent  to  belief. 

In  order  to  do  this,  the  element  of  per- 
sonality is  essential.  The  truth  must  be 
embodied.  In  order  to  make  the  truth  live 
in  the  heart  of  the  child,  it  must  first  be 

76 


^he  Mamjestatio7i  of  God 

seen  and  known  living  outside  the  child. 
The  influence  of  ideas  is  great,  indeed,  upon 
mature  and  reflective  people,  but  most  peo- 
ple and  all  children  are  influenced  by  per- 
sons. 

Thus  v^e  come  to  the  supreme  personal- 
ity, to  the  embodiment  of  theology  and  of 
ethics,  and  of  all  religion,  in  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  perplex  the  mind 
of  the  child  with  the  accurate  but  difficult 
statements  of  the  doctrines  which  are  here 
involved,  though  it  is  possible  to  set  forth 
even  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  in  a  simple 
way,  such  as  shall  convey  definite  ideas 
which  are  true  as  far  as  they  go.  Thus  if 
the  question  comes, — as  it  is  likely  to  come 
in  the  progress  of  instruction,  or  in  the 
course  of  the  Christian  Year,  where  the 
word  Trinity  becomes  a  part  of  the  name 
of  a  long  series  of  Sundays, — a  sufficient 
answer  for  the  present  is  to  say  that  there 
is  one  God,  one  only  God,  who  reveals 
Himself  to  us,  and  deals  with  us  in  three 
77 


^he  Traimng  of  Children  in  Religio72 

ways  so  different  that  we  call  Him  by  three 
different  names.  When  we  think  of  God 
as  the  Maker  and  Maintainer  of  the  uni- 
verse, according  to  whose  power  all  things 
have  their  being,  we  are  thinking  of  Him  as 
the  Father.  When  we  think  of  God  as 
manifesting  Himself  to  us  in  the  history  of 
the  race  of  men,  and  especially  and  su- 
premely in  the  life  of  Christ,  we  are  think- 
ing still  of  the  same  one  God,  but  as  the 
Son.  When  we  think  of  God  as  revealing 
His  will  in  our  conscience,  and  thereby 
teaching  us  how  to  do  better,  and  at  the 
same  time  helping  us  to  attain  the  better- 
ment which  is  thus  revealed,  we  are  think- 
ing again  of  the  same  God,  whom  we  called 
first  Father  and  then  Son,  and  whom  we 
now  call  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  classic  statement  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  in  its  relation  to  the  mind  of 
childhood  is  in  the  Church  Catechism: 
"First,  I  learn  to  believe  in  God  the  Father, 
who  hath  made  me  and  all  the  world.     Sec- 

78 


l^he  Manifestation  of  God 

ondly,  in  God  the  Son,  who  hath  redeemed 
me  and  all  mankind.  Thirdly,  in  God  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  sanctifieth  me  and  all  the 
people  of  God."  This  is  by  no  means  ade- 
quate from  the  point  of  view  of  theology. 
But  it  is  a  good  working  explanation.  It 
will  have  the  effect  of  taking  the  idea  of 
the  Trinity  out  of  the  intellectual  clouds 
and  of  making  a  single  phase  of  it  mean 
something  to  a  child.  And  it  is  capable 
of  easy  illustration.  Here  is  one  man  who 
plants  a  garden  and  writes  a  book  and  loves 
his  family.  He  is  a  parable  of  God,  who 
makes,  redeems  and  sanctifies  the  world. 

Probably  the  easiest  expression  for  the 
revealing  personality  of  Jesus  Christ  is  to 
be  found  in  the  name,  the  "Son  of  God." 
It  is  used  so  many  times  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment that  the  ear  of  the  child  becomes  ac- 
customed to  it,  and  it  conveys  the  essential 
ideas.  It  is  inadequate  as  an  accurate 
definition  of  the  person  of  Christ,  and  it 
offered  itself  in  an  age  of  polytheism  as  a 
79 


T^'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

polytheistic  interpretation  of  Christianity. 
Thus  according  to  the  theory  of  Arius, 
Christ  was  an  inferior  God.  If,  however, 
we  teach  our  children  that  Christ  was  sim- 
ply the  ideal  man,  we  put  ourselves  and 
them  out  of  accord  with  the  natural  mean- 
ing of  the  whole  New  Testament.  And  if 
we  teach  them  that  Christ  was  simply  the 
eternal  God,  we  put  them  to  confusion  in 
their  endeavor  to  understand  the  accounts 
of  His  human  life :  was  it  human  in  appear- 
ance only?  or,  if  it  was  real,  how  could  God 
do  and  endure  these  things? 

Can  we  do  better,  under  these  conditions, 
than  to  follow  the  order  suggested  by  the 
difference  between  the  two  creeds,  the 
Apostles'  and  the  Nicene?  The  Apostles' 
Creed  represents  more  nearly  the  intel- 
lectual position  of  the  early  church.  They 
believed  in  God  the  Father  Almighty, 
Maker  of  heaven  and  earth;  and  in  Jesus 
Christ,  His  only  Son,  our  Lord.  After- 
wards, when  misunderstandings  and  con- 

80 


The  Manifestation  of  God 

troversies  arose,  they  added  the  words: 
"Begotten  of  His  Father  before  all  worlds, 
God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  Very  God  of 
Very  God."  The  children  are  still  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  this  theological  develop- 
ment. They  may  be  instructed  later  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  deity  of  Christ,  but 
at  present  it  may  suffice  to  teach  them  the 
doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ.  The 
formula  of  this  doctrine  is  in  St.  Paul's 
phrase,  ^'God  was  in  Christ."  There  was 
Jesus  Christ,  truly  man,  subject  to  our  es- 
sential human  limitations,  but  God  was  in 
Him.  God  spoke  by  His  voice,  and  lived 
in  His  life,  and  made  Him  His  representa- 
tive among  us  men.  God  was  in  His 
heart.  He  was  the  Son  of  God.  The 
child  will  know  what  that  means.  Out  of 
heaven,  where  He  dwells,  God  because  He 
so  loved  the  world  sent  His  Son.  Thus  in 
the  parable  of  the  wicked  husbandman  the 
owner  of  the  vineyard,  in  order  to  make  his 
will  absolutely  plain,  sent  at  last  his  son. 

8i 


^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

Nineteen  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  midst 
of  the  affairs  of  men,  in  a  land  at  the  end 
of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  among  a  people 
distinguished  for  religion,  as  the  Greeks 
were  distinguished  for  art  and  the  Romans 
for  law,  appeared  the  Son  of  God.  We 
reckon  time  from  that  event,  numbering  the 
years  according  as  they  are  before  or  after 
the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ.  Every  year,  we 
remember  His  birth  in  the  festival  of 
Christmas.  This  offers  a  natural  occasion 
for  teaching  children  concerning  the  Person 
in  whom  all  our  religion  is  embodied. 
Thus  and  thus,  came  the  Son  of  God  among 
us.  Nothing  can  be  more  beautiful  and 
impressive  than  the  Christmas  stories  at  the 
beginning  of  the  gospels  of  St.  Matthew 
and  St.  Luke.  The  quiet  reading  of  these 
pages  on  some  Christmas  Eve  will  be  for 
some  children  the  beginning  of  the  actual 
consciousness  of  religion.  The  Son  of  God 
came  and  lived  among  men.  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  He  gave  His  only-begotten 

82 


T!'he  Manifestation  of  God 

Son.  The  Christmas  carols,  sung  at  Sun- 
day-school and  at  home,  the  church  gar- 
nished with  the  Christmas  greens,  the  serv- 
ice glorified  with  music,  will  deepen  this 
impression.  The  Christmas  tree  points  up 
to  heaven,  whence  come  all  good  and  per- 
fect gifts ;  and  gifts  are  put  upon  it  in  mem- 
ory of  the  supreme  gift  when  God  gave  His 
Son.  The  Child  in  the  manger  in  the 
Christmas  pictures  is  the  Son  of  God,  who 
in  His  life  and  death  and  resurrection  made 
us  to  know  God. 


CHAPTER   VI 

DOMESTIC  THEOLOGY:  IV.  THE  SAL- 
VATION OF  MAN 

^Y^HEN  we  say  that  God  gave  His 
\  I  /  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^  salvation,  we  mean  that 
Jesus  Christ  came  for  the  health  of 
the  soul.  For  salvation  and  the  health  of 
the  soul  are  the  same  thing.  We  are  in  a 
state  of  salvation  when  our  souls  are  sound 
and  well. 

What  we  ought  to  desire,  then,  when 
we  hope  to  be  saved  is  only  remotely  con- 
nected with  hell  or  heaven.  These  are  the 
natural  sequences  of  spiritual  disease  or 
health.  These  are  the  continuation  into  the 
world  to  come  of  the  condition  in  which 
we  are  in  the  world  now  present.  Our  im- 
mediate desire  should  be  for  present  health. 
If  we  have  that  and  keep  it,  all  will  be  well 

84 


T'he  Salvation  of  Man 


for  us  in  all  worlds,  and  we  will  be  happy 
not  only  hereafter  but  here  also.  The  sal- 
vation which  is  promised  in  the  Gospels 
and  which  Jesus  came  to  bring,  consists  in 
being  set  free  not  from  punishment  but  from 
sin.  He  came  to  enable  us  to  overcome  our 
sins.  And  this  He  did,  in  part,  by  teach- 
ing us  those  truths  of  the  being  and  the 
nature  of  God,  in  whose  knowledge  and 
belief  the  health  of  the  soul  consists.  Es- 
pecially related  to  our  redemption  from  our 
sins  is  His  manifestation  of  the  love  and 
of  the  will  of  God. 

The  fact  that  He  came  at  all  was  evidence 
of  the  love  of  God.  It  meant  that  God 
cares  about  us.  Jesus  assured  us  of  this  love 
of  God  for  us  in  many  ways,  but  especially 
by  the  name  which  He  used  when  He  spoke 
to  God  or  about  Him,  calling  Him 
"Father,"  and  teaching  us  to  call  Him 
"Father."  This  was  the  heart  of  all  His 
disclosure  of  the  love  of  God.  It  is  the 
standard  by  which  to  estimate  the  truth  of 
85 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

all  that  is  said  of  God,  in  the  Bible  and 
since  the  Bible.  Nothing  is  true  of  God 
which  is  inconsistent  with  ideal  fatherhood. 
At  the  same  time,  this  truth  of  the  love  of 
God  is  distinctive  of  Christianity  in  contrast 
with  all  other  religions.  It  justifies  the 
missions  of  Christianity  in  other  lands. 
The  children  are  asked  to  contribute  to  this 
mission  work,  and  they  ought  to  do  it  with 
intelligence.  These  missions  are  supported 
not  because  persons  who  do  not  hear  the 
Christian  gospel  will  not  be  saved.  That 
would  be  to  accuse  God  of  being  below 
even  our  ordinary  standard  of  what  is  fair. 
It  is  impossible  that  God  should  so  order 
the  universe  that  great  multitudes  of  peo- 
ple, a  majority  of  all  mankind,  should  per- 
ish everlastingly  because  they  have  not 
accepted  a  religion  of  whose  existence  they 
have  never  heard.  It  is  true  that  this  was 
once  believed  by  Christians;  but  that  fact 
only  shows  how  slowly  true  Christianity 
makes    its    way    into    the    heart   of   man. 

86 


T'he  Salvation  of  Man 


Neither  are  the  missions  supported  in  order 
to  drive  out  the  native  religions  and  plant 
the  Christian  religion  in  the  place  of  them. 
That,  also,  v^as  once,  in  the  intention  of 
many,  the  motive  of  missions.  We  perceive 
now  that  other  religions  have  truth  to  teach 
us ;  in  all  nations  those  who  seek  after  God 
find  Him;  He  has  not  disclosed  Himself 
to  us  alone.  The  purpose  of  missions  is  to 
bring  as  a  contribution  to  other  religions 
this  central  distinctive  truth  of  the  father- 
hood of  God,  and  along  with  it  other  truths 
implied  in  the  love  of  God,  and  declared  in 
the  will  of  God  as  we  understand  it.  And 
this  we  do  to  drive  out  fear  and  put  love 
in  the  place  of  it.  It  is  for  the  sake  of  the 
health  of  the  soul.  In  other  words,  it  is  for 
the  sake  of  human  happiness  here  and  now. 
We  have  a  source  of  happiness  which  we 
would  share  with  others.  It  helps  us  in 
our  sorrow,  and  strengthens  us  in  difficulty, 
and  makes  the  whole  world  pleasant.  It 
is  our  consciousness  of  the  love  of  God. 

87 


^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

When  we  ask  ourselves  how  we  gain  our 
assurance  of  this  divine  fatherly  affection, 
and  thus  come  into  possession  of  this  inter- 
preting secret  which  we  wish  to  communi- 
cate to  others,  the  answer  is  that  we  know 
the  love  of  God  by  the  revelation  of  the 
Son  of  God.  We  take  it  sometimes  in  the 
face  of  what  seem  contradicting  experi- 
ences, and  cling  to  it  through  hardships 
which  we  cannot  understand,  because  of 
what  He  said.  Nature  gives  us  no  unfail- 
ing confidence  in  the  love  of  God;  history 
seems  sometimes  to  bring  in  evidence 
against  the  love  of  God.  But  He  who 
knows  God  speaks,  and  in  His  word  and 
life  declares,  and  on  the  cross  declares 
again,  that  our  pain  is  not  a  negation  of 
God's  love.  The  Son  of  God  was  ac- 
quainted with  grief.  But  He  called  God 
Father  in  the  face  of  it  all.  He  proclaimed 
the  gospel  of  the  love  of  God. 

As  to  the  will  of  God,  the  people  to 
whom  Christ  spoke  knew  already  that  it 

88 


T'he  Salvation  of  Man 


had  to  do  with  conduct.  This  was  an  ad- 
vance beyond  the  teachings  of  many  other 
religions  according  to  which  the  will  of 
God  was  chiefly  concerned  with  ceremony. 
At  the  heart  of  these  religions  was  a  great 
fear  of  God,  and  the  purpose  of  religion 
was  to  gain  and  keep  His  favor.  This  was 
accomplished,  so  they  thought,  by  the  offer- 
ing of  prescribed  sacrifices  and  the  per- 
formance of  sacred  rites.  Beyond  these 
propitiations  the  gods  did  not  greatly  care. 
Indeed,  in  the  religions  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  with  whose  deities  the  children  are 
made  acquainted  in  school,  the  conduct  of 
the  gods  themselves  was  in  contradiction  to 
all  sound  morality.  The  Old  Testament 
people  knew  better  than  that.  They  knew 
that  the  God  of  all  the  earth  would  do 
right,  and  they  knew  also  that  He  desires 
us  to  do  right.  The  constant  lesson  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  that  God  blesses  the  right- 
eous, and  punishes  the  wrongdoer. 

To  this  clear  perception  of  the  impor- 

89 


T^he  T'raming  of  Children  in  Religion 

tance  of  conduct,  Christ  made  two  addi- 
tions. He  interpreted  conduct  in  two  new 
ways.  He  taught  that  sin  is  a  matter  not 
of  action  only  but  of  emotion.  And  He 
taught  that  goodness  is  to  be  estimated  not 
by  word  and  deed  only  but  by  motive. 

This  new  doctrine  of  the  religious  sig- 
nificance of  emotion,  He  made  plain  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  A  reference  to  the 
report  of  that  discourse  in  the  early  chap- 
ters of  St.  Matthew  will  show  the  child 
precisely  what  is  meant.  The  moral  law 
said,  "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  and  that  was 
as  far  as  it  went.  At  least,  it  was  capable 
of  being  so  interpreted  as  to  touch  only  the 
act  of  murder.  Jesus  said  that  the  law  was 
broken  by  every  emotion  of  unbrotherly 
anger.  The  anger  might  not  express  itself 
in  any  such  form  as  to  expose  one  to  the 
penalties  of  the  courts.  It  might  not  even 
be  disclosed  by  angry  words.  But  even  the 
emotion  was  in  God's  sight  sin.  Whoever 
had  a  feeling  of  hatred  in  his  heart  broke 

90 


^he  Salvation  of  Man 


the  commandment,  and  placed  himself  in 
the  criminal  company  of  murderers. 

The  same  Sermon  announced  and  illus- 
trated the  new  doctrine  of  the  religious 
significance  of  motive.  Jesus  took  for  ex- 
ample the  three  customary  duties  of  alms- 
giving, fasting  and  prayer,  and  showed  how 
one  might  perform  all  three  of  them  with 
the  utmost  strictness,  and  yet  be  under  the 
disapproval  of  God.  What  God  cares  for. 
He  said,  is  the  motive,  the  spirit,  in  which 
our  life  is  lived.  We  get  the  reward  which 
we  honestly  desire.  If  we  live  in  the  sight 
of  God,  having  for  our  chief  intention  the 
purpose  to  please  Him,  we  have  our  re- 
ward. If  we  live  in  the  sight  of  men,  en- 
deavoring to  win  the  praise  of  the  people, 
we  attain  that:  we  get  the  praise  of  the  peo- 
ple, but  not  the  praise  of  God.  It  is  the 
distinction  between  faith  and  works  on 
which  St.  Paul  so  vigorously  insisted. 
Works  are  what  we  do;  faith  is  the  motive 
which  impels  us  to  do  them.     So  with  the 

7  91 


T'he  T'raming  of  Children  in  Religion 

Old  Testament  sacrifices.  God,  to  whom 
all  things  belong,  cared  nothing  for  the 
sacrifice.  Men  gave  Him  this  and  that  by 
offering  it  upon  an  altar,  but  it  was  His 
already.  The  value  of  the  sacrifice  in  His 
sight  was  as  a  symbol  of  the  love  and  devo- 
tion of  him  who  made  it.  The  true  sacri- 
fice, as  the  psalm  says,  is  a  troubled  spirit; 
a  broken  and  contrite  heart.  And  the  same 
is  true  of  all  our  works.  What  fathers  and 
mothers  desire  of  their  children  is  not  obe- 
dience only,  but  willing  and  glad  and  loving 
obedience.  The  supreme  thing  is  the  way 
rather  than  the  work;  the  way,  that  is,  in 
which  the  work  is  done. 

These  two  new  teachings, — the  doctrine 
of  emotion  as  an  act  of  sin  and  the  doctrine 
of  motive  as  the  interpreting  part  of  good- 
ness,— made  right  conduct  a  far  more  dif- 
ficult matter  than  it  had  been  before.  Ac- 
cording to  the  ordinary  teaching  of  Christ's 
day,  if  a  man's  speech  and  action  were 
righteous,  the  man  himself  was  righteous. 

92 


The  Salvation  of  Man 


He  had  but  to  control  his  hands  and  his 
tongue.  There  were  definite  things  pre- 
scribed for  him  to  do  as  a  part  of  religion, 
and  if  he  did  them  he  was  acceptable  to 
God.  But  Jesus  pointed  to  all  this  com- 
mon conduct  when  He  said,  "Except  your 
righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness 
of  the  scribes  and  pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no 
case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
One  might  live  externally  an  admirable 
life,  being  obedient  to  the  Commandments, 
a  useful  citizen,  an  unfailing  attendant 
upon  all  the  services  of  the  church,  and  yet 
miss  the  kingdom  of  heaven  altogether. 
These  are  they  who  appear  at  the  end  of 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  crying,  "Lord, 
Lord,  have  we  not  preached  in  Thy  name? 
and  in  Thy  name  have  cast  out  devils?  and 
in  Thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works?" 
He  says,  "I  never  knew  you:  depart  from 
Me,  ye  that  work  iniquity."  Their  iniquity 
is  altogether  of  the  heart;  their  sin  is  in 
their  emotion  and  their  motive. 
93 


T'he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

The  effect  of  this  teaching  was  to  inten- 
sify the  sense  of  sin.  The  classic  expres- 
sion of  it  is  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  where  St.  Paul,  who 
has  lived  a  good  life  all  his  days,  never 
willingly  broken  a  commandment,  and  been 
exceedingly  zealous  in  religion,  says,  ''I 
know  that  in  me  dwelleth  no  good  thing. 
When  I  would  do  good,  evil  is  present  with 
me":  present  not  in  word  or  deed,  but  in 
emotion  and  in  motive,  in  the  thoughts  of 
the  heart.  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am," 
he  cries,  "who  shall  deliver  me  from  the 
body  of  this  death?"  Immediately,  he 
adds,  "I  thank  God,  through  Jesus  Christ, 
our  Lord." 

For  although  Christ  thus  brought  a  new 
sense  of  sin  into  the  world.  He  brought  also 
a  new  assurance  of  salvation.  He  came,  as 
He  said  again  and  again,  to  save  us  from 
our  sins.  This  He  did,  in  part,  by  His  rev- 
elation of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  The 
parable  of  the  prodigal  son  declared  that 

94 


The  Salvation  of  Mail. 


the  process  of  salvation  is  first  a  turning 
about  of  the  strayed  sinner,  away  from  sin 
toward  God;  and  then,  a  certain  accept- 
ance of  him  by  God,  who  waits  with  fa- 
therly longing  and  love  for  that  return.  It 
is  simple  enough,  as  the  parable  unfolds  it, 
and  any  child  can  understand  it.  The 
prodigal  son  comes  to  himself,  perceives  his 
wretched  condition,  realizes  that  it  is  the 
natural  result  of  his  own  misconduct,  and 
resolves  to  stop  all  that  and  go  home.  That 
is  the  sense  of  sin,  and  the  sorrow  and  re- 
pentance and  beginning  of  amendment 
which  follow  it.  The  father  of  the  prod- 
igal son  receives  him  with  great  gladness. 
That  is  how  God  deals  with  every  sinner 
who  comes  back  to  Him,  sorrowing  and 
repenting. 

When  it  is  said  that  Jesus  saved  us  from 
our  sins  by  dying  for  us  on  the  cross,  we 
seem  to  be  taken  out  of  the  beautiful  sim- 
plicity of  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son 
and  brought  into  a  region  of  perplexity  and 
95 


T'he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

confusion  and  hard  doctrine.  And  it  is 
true  that  there  are  mysteries  here  which  are 
beyond  our  understanding.  The  best  plan 
with  children  is  to  give  them  explanations 
which,  while  confessedly  inadequate,  are 
true  as  far  as  they  go,  and  are  sufficient  for 
the  time.  The  effect,  for  instance,  of  the 
death  of  Jesus  upon  the  will  of  God,  may 
be  set  aside  as  quite  beyond  the  range  either 
of  the  ideas  or  of  the  needs  of  childhood. 
We  are  much  more  directly  concerned  with 
the  effect  of  the  death  of  Christ  upon  our- 
selves. ,  Whatever  divine  transactions  may 
have  taken  place  concerning  us  in  the  coun- 
cil chambers  of  eternity,  it  is  plain  that 
there  can  be  no  salvation  from  our  sin  with- 
out our  cooperation.  We  cannot  be  saved 
unless  we  will  to  be  saved.  We  must  re- 
alize our  sin,  and  be  sorry  and  repent,  and 
turn  about  and  do  right.  \  That  is  essential. 
What  we  need  is  a  strong  incentive,  and  a 
great  help.  And  that  is  provided  for  us 
by  the  death  of  Christ.     To  the  formula  of 

96 


"The  Salvation  of  Man 


the  simplest  doctrine  of  the  incarnation — 
"God  was  in  Christ," — St.  Paul  adds  in  the 
same  verse  the  formula  of  the  simplest  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement, — '^reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself." 

The  cross  of  Christ  reconciles  us  to  God, 
brings  us  back  out  of  our  sin  to  God,  be- 
cause it  gives  us  a  new  emotion  and  a  new 
motive. 

The  new  emotion  is  that  of  love  for  Him 
who  gave  His  life  for  us.  He  died  for  us. 
He  saw  that  the  sins  of  the  hearts  as  well 
as  of  the  bodies  of  men  were  destroying 
human  happiness  both  now  and  hereafter; 
and  He  revealed  and  rebuked  those  sins  in 
such  a  way  that  the  scribes  and  pharisees, 
who  were  guilty  of  them,  put  Him  to  death. 
He  died  in  contention  against  those  sins 
which  He  saw  were  imperiling  the  life  of 
the  soul.  It  was  as  if  a  man  were  to  die 
in  his  effort  to  disclose  the  cause  of  diseases 
which  were  attacking  the  lives  of  his  neigh- 
bors. Such  a  death  would  reveal  the  condi- 
97 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

tioii  of  disease  against  which  that  tragic 
contention  was  made.  People  w^ouid  now 
see  the  peril  of  that  to  which  they  had 
attached  no  great  importance.  And  they 
would  revere  and  love  the  memory  of  him 
who,  at  the  cost  of  his  own  life,  had  saved 
them  and  their  children.  This  is  w^hat 
Christ  did.  He  made  plain  by  His  teach- 
ing, and  plainer  by  His  suffering,  that  sin 
is  not  audible  and  tangible  and  visible  only, 
but  that  the  worst  form  of  it  is  of  the  spirit. 
He  had  to  die  to  do  it.  He  died  testifying 
by  His  cross  to  the  dreadfulness  of  sin,  and 
to  the  divine  love  which  for  our  good  made 
Him  lay  down  His  life.  And  the  result 
of  an  understanding  of  even  so  much  of  the 
cross  as  this  is  a  new  emotion:  an  emotion 
of  hatred  of  sin,  and  of  love  of  God  as  re- 
vealed in  Jesus  Christ,  His  Son. 

Out  of  the  new  emotion  springs  a  new 
motive.  When  we  realize  what  He  did, 
we  desire  to  please  Him.  We  resolve  to 
live  not  in  easy  conformity  to  the  world's 

98 


T!he  Salvation  of  Man 


ideals,  not  in  accord  with  the  ideals  of  the 
external  religion  against  which  He  con- 
tended and  by  which  He  was  crucified,  but 
in  bringing  every  thought  of  our  heart  into 
loving  obedience  to  Him.  This  He  did  for 
us,  and  now  we  for  Him  will  do  all  that 
we  can,  devoting  ourselves  and  all  that  we 
are  to  Him.  We  ask  ourselves.  Is  this  what 
He  would  like?  this  word,  this  act,  this 
thought?  is  this  the  right  emotion,  the  right 
motive,  in  His  sight?  Our  sense  of  loyalty 
assists  us.  Here  is  the  supreme  saint  and 
hero,  suffering  for  our  good,  even  to  the 
death  upon  the  cross ;  Him  will  we  follow, 
wherever  He  shall  lead. 

The  Christian  doctrine  of  salvation,  as 
it  appears  in  the  New  Testament,  deals  with 
our  release  from  our  sins,  and,  only  in 
consequence,  with  our  release  from  the 
punishment  invited  by  our  sins.  The  main 
thing  is  to  get  rid  of  our  sins,  in  this 
present  life.  But  He  who  revealed  the 
nature  of  sin,  as  a  matter  initially  of  emo- 
99 


^he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

tion  and  of  motive,  and  who  came  to  save 
us  from  our  sins  by  contending  against  them 
even  to  death,  and  by  thus  giving  us  a  new 
motive  and  a  new  emotion,  opened  also  to 
us,  as  the  phrase  is,  the  gates  of  life  eternal. 
He  took  for  granted,  without  discussion, 
that  after  death  is  life.     He  spoke  often  of 
the  world  beyond  the  grave,  especially  as 
a  place  where  joy  and  sorrow  are  deter- 
mined by  moral  conditions.     He  found  a 
part  of  the  significance  of  the  present  in  its 
logical  relation  to  the  future:  whatsoever  a 
man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.     The 
harvest  of  earth.   He  said,  is  reaped  and 
garnered  in  heaven.     People  shall  be  happy 
or  unhappy  after  they  die  in  proportion  to 
their  fitness  to  enter  with  understanding  and 
appreciation  into  the  conditions  of  the  fu- 
ture life.     Into  that  life  we  go,  keeping  our 
identity,  bringing  into  it  ourselves   as  we 
actually  are.     And  we  go  where  we  belong. 
If  we  have  been  satisfied  to  be  sinners,  our 
place  will  be  with  the  sinners, — a  place 

ICO 


"The  Salvation  of  Man 


whose  name  in  the  Bible  is  Hell.  It  used 
to  be  thought  wise  and  prudent  to  make 
children  pretty  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
the  serious  disadvantages  of  hell,  so  that 
they  might  resolve  not  to  go  there.  The 
endeavor  was  made  to  scare  them  into 
Heaven.  The  long  discussion  of  this  mat- 
ter in  our  own  generation  has  not  disturbed 
the  assurance  of  hell.  The  eternity  of  it 
for  any  given  individual  has,  indeed,  been 
brought  in  question.  Everlasting  punish- 
ment has  been  interpreted  to  mean  an  ever- 
lasting condition  whereby  punishment  ex- 
ists wherever  and  whenever  sin  exists.  Our 
idea  of  the  purpose  of  it  has  been  somewhat 
affected  by  new  theories  of  punishment,  ac- 
cording to  which  pain  is  properly  inflicted 
not  for  the  sake  of  revenge  but  for  the  sake 
of  remedy.  Also,  the  flames  of  hell  are  not 
so  material  as  they  were,  and  have  regard 
to  the  soul  rather  than  the  body.  These 
changes  make  it  impossible  for  us  to  pre- 
sent the  idea  of  hell  to  our  children  so  pic- 

lOI 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

turesquely  and  vividly  and  menacingly  as 
it  may  have  been  presented  to  us.  We  sim- 
ply cannot  do  it.  We  can,  however,  make 
it  pretty  plain  that  gain  and  loss,  and  joy 
and  sorrow,  in  this  world  and  in  all  con- 
ceivable worlds,  depend  on  appreciation. 
We  enjoy  and  thereby  possess  all  that  we 
appreciate — books,  pictures,  music,  society: 
to  him  that  hath  shall  be  given.  And  we 
lose  all  that  we  are  unable  to  appreciate. 
If,  therefore,  we  so  live  as  to  prefer  the  bad 
to  the  good,  the  good  world  is  made  inac- 
cessible to  us,  the  best  of  life  is  lost,  here 
and  hereafter,  in  the  nature  of  things.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  have  tried  to  follow 
the  example  of  the  saints,  our  place  will  be 
with  the  saints,  in  that  joy  of  the  Lord  which 
wx  have  fitted  ourselves  to  appreciate. 

All  this,  the  Son  of  God  confirmed  by 
His  own  victory  over  death.  He  died  and 
rose  again.  He  came  back.  He  fulfilled 
the  longing  of  all  the  ages  that  somebody 
might  return  after  the  experience  of  death 

102 


l^he  Salvation  of  Man 


to  tell  us  plainly  what  comes  next.  He  ap- 
peared to  the  disciples.  He  made  it  abso- 
lutely certain,  by  infallible  proofs,  that  it 
was  Himself  come  to  life  again,  and  alive 
for  evermore.  And  Fie  declared  that  into 
this  life  we  may  all  enter.  He  brought  life 
and  immortality  to  light.  That  which  men 
had  always  guessed,  He  made  sure.  Be- 
cause He  lives,  we  shall  live  also. 

These  truths,  concerning  God  as  the 
Maker  of  the  world  and  the  Father  of  man- 
kind; concerning  His  love  and  His  will, 
especially  as  made  plain  for  us  by  His  Son; 
concerning  the  meaning  of  sin  as  Christ 
taught  it,  and  the  escape  from  sin  as  Christ 
provided  it;  and  concerning  the  life  to 
come;  should  be  a  part  of  the  moral  and 
spiritual  equipment  with  which  a  youth  of 
the  age  of  fifteen  should  be  furnished. 
This  much,  at  least,  he  ought  to  know  and 
believe  to  his  soul's  health. 


CHAPTER   VII 
THE  SILENT  INSTRUCTION  OF  EXAMPLE 

IN  any  home  where  there  is  a  definite 
desire  to  train  the  children  in  re- 
ligion, opportunity  will  be  found 
for  the  direct  teaching  for  which  materials 
have  now  been  suggested.  Another  kind 
of  tuition,  however,  proceeds  ever5rwhere, 
whether  we  are  conscious  of  it  or  not.  This 
is  the  silent  instruction  of  example. 

The  consciousness  of  God,  and  the  reve- 
lation made  by  Jesus  Christ  are  a  general 
possession  of  all  normal  communities  in  a 
Christian  country,  and  they  come  to  the 
child  as  a  part  of  his  heritage.  But  the 
strength  and  vividness  of  the  child's  religion 
depend  greatly  upon  the  position  of  re- 
ligion in  his  home.  The  father  and  mother 
are  perpetually  teaching  religion  to  their 
104 


'T^he  Silent  Instruction  of  Example 

children,  by  their  example,  by  the  tones  of 
their  voices,  by  what  they  are  even  more 
than  by  what  they  say,  by  the  conditions 
of  their  own  relationship  to  the  unseen 
world.  These  lessons  are  not  in  any  book. 
They  are  in  the  personality  of  the  parents. 
It  is  true  that  this  influence  is  not  abso- 
lutely determining.  The  differences  which 
appear  in  children  who  are  trained  under 
the  same  guidance  show  that.  So  also  does 
the  fact  that  children  sometimes  come  out 
good  from  bad  homes  and  bad  from  good 
homes.  There  is  some  truth  in  the  theory 
that  unselfish  mothers  make  selfish  chil- 
dren: they  accustom  the  children  to  being 
waited  upon,  and  made  much  of,  and  de- 
ferred to.  This  is  a  part  of  the  process 
which  is  properly  called  "spoiling''  chil- 
dren. It  is  plain,  also,  that  there  are  pres- 
entations of  religion  which  may  be  dis- 
tasteful to  children,  and  which  are  therefore 
in  reality  arguments  against  it.  Some  train- 
ing is  followed  by  a  reaction  against  its 
105 


The  'T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

severity,  its  narrowness,  its  hostile  or  sus- 
picious or  nervous  dealing  with  the  natural 
joys  of  life.  Even  so,  the  religious  influ- 
ences of  the  home  reveal  their  potency  in 
their  results;  though  the  results  are  of  the 
nature  of  a  criticism  of  the  domestic  re- 
ligion. 

The  fact  that  the  chief  training  in  re- 
ligion is  what  the  parents  do  and  are  rather 
tiian  what  they  say  in  direct  instruction, 
is,  of  course,  discouraging  when  we  con- 
sider what  very  inadequate  examples  most 
of  us  are.  We  hope  that  our  children  may 
grow  up  to  be  much  better  than  we  are. 
But  there  is  one  detail  of  encouragement 
in  the  matter.  For  many  people  it  is  im- 
possible to  '^talk  religion."  Either  it  is  so 
sacred  a  part  of  their  experience  that  they 
cannot  bear  to  put  it  into  words,  or  it  is  so 
remote  from  what  they  know  it  ought  to  be, 
that  silence  seems  more  profitable  than 
speech,  or  it  is  so  much  a  matter  of  feeling, 
that  they  cannot  well  convey  it  to  another, 
io6 


The  Silent  Instructiofi  of  Example 

or  they  are  not  good  at  explanation.  But 
they  can  live  it.  Indeed,  for  good  or  ill, 
they  must  live  it,  whether  they  will  or  no. 
Thus  this  training  in  religion  is  within  the 
ability  of  even  the  most  reticent. 

An  important  series  of  lessons  in  the 
silent  instruction  of  example  is  given  by 
conformity  to  the  common  customs  of  re- 
ligion. The  simplest  thing  which  fathers 
and  mothers  can  do  for  the  direct  religious 
welfare  of  their  children  is  to  attend  church 
on  Sunday.  The  neglect  of  such  attend- 
ance suggests  at  once  to  the  logical  mind 
of  the  child  that  the  institutions  of  religion 
are  not  highly  prized  by  their  parents. 
The  zeal  and  punctuality  with  which  such 
parents  may  insist  upon  the  appearance  of 
the  children  at  Sunday-school  or  at  church 
count  for  little,  in  the  face  of  this  incon- 
sistency. The  meaning  is  that  the  institu- 
tions of  religion  are  mainly  good  for  chil- 
dren; or,  if  the  mother  goes  to  church  and 
not  the  father,  that  they  are  for  children 
8  107 


'T'he  'Training  of  Children  in  Religio?7 

and  women.  The  boys  look  forward  to  the 
time  when,  being  men  like  their  father, 
they  may  stay  at  home  as  he  does.  The 
church  is  plainly  depreciated  in  every 
household  where  the  parents  stand  apart 
from  visible  connection  with  it. 

Of  course,  such  detachment  from  the 
church  may  have  various  good  reasons  to 
justify  it.  But  they  ought  to  be  mighty 
good  reasons.  Good  or  not,  they  are  mostly 
unintelligible  to  children.  All  that  they 
see  is  the  absence  from  the  services,  and  that 
they  take  as  a  disparaging  fact.  Reasons 
which  might  weigh  for  much  with  an  indi- 
vidual need  to  be  very  carefully  reconsid- 
ered by  parents  in  view  of  the  inevitable 
consequences.  The  church  is  open  to  criti- 
cism, like  all  things  human,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  it  is  the  most  powerful  of  all 
organized  influences  for  the  forming  and 
maintaining  of  character.  Some  people 
may  get  along  without  it,  but  not  many;  and 
those  who  live  well  without  it  commonly 
108 


T^he  Silent  Instruction  of  Example 

do  so  on  the  basis  of  past  training  and  ex- 
perience. To  let  go  of  it  is  to  abandon  one 
of  the  most  ancient  and  universal  of  the 
factors  of  character. 

So  far  as  it  is  true  that  children  are  less 
mindful  of  religion  than  they  used  to  be, 
less  conscious  of  God  and  less  in  awe  of 
Him,  one  reason  for  the  change  may  be 
found  in  the  disuse  of  family  prayer.  In 
the  absence  of  such  a  service,  the  household 
may  easily  go  on,  in  the  course  of  a  peace- 
ful life,  with  hardly  any  visible  or  audible 
recognition  of  the  fact  of  religion,  except 
on  Sunday.  But  emotion  and  expression 
belong  together.  Emotion  is  sustained  by 
expression.  Affection,  for  example,  needs 
the  words  of  endearment.  Otherwise,  it  is 
in  danger  of  lapsing  into  indifference.  So 
with  religion. 

Of  course,   there  are  all   the  hindering 

conditions    of    our    hurried    living.     The 

trolley  car  interrupts  our  prayers.     Most 

families,  however,  manage  to  breakfast  to- 

109 


^he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion. 

gether.  And,  in  most  cases,  where  such  a 
breakfast  is  possible,  prayers  are  possible. 
The  domestic  devotions,  if  the  clock  is  im- 
portunate, may  easily  be  conducted  with 
dignity  and  reverence  in  five  minutes.  That 
is  enough  for  a  Scripture  reading  and  a 
brief  prayer.  It  may  not  compare  very 
well  with  the  extended  household  worship 
of  our  ancestors,  but  it  is  sufficient  for  the 
essential  purpose  of  the  act,  which  is  to  be- 
gin the  day  with  a  family  recognition  of 
the  presence  of  God.  The  reading  may  be 
a  psalm,  or  even  one  of  the  eight-verse  sec- 
tions of  the  hundred  and  nineteenth  psalm. 
The  prayer  may  be  taken  from  a  book. 
What  is  called  extemporary  prayer  pre- 
sents to  many  persons  the  most  serious  de- 
tail of  the  difficulty.  Even  a  considerable 
reality  and  earnestness  of  religion  may  not 
bring  with  it  the  gift  of  liturgical  expres- 
sion. But  this  is  easily  managed.  If  the 
spirit  of  religion  does  not  naturally  and 
readily  express  itself  in  that  manner,  there 
no 


T'he  Silent  Instruction  of  Example 

are  plenty  of  good  prayers.  There  is  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  older  than  our 
English  Bible,  filled  with  treasures  of  de- 
votion, voicing  most  of  our  religious  aspi- 
rations, and  especially  abounding  in  short 
prayers.  Or  there  is  the  Presbyterian 
Book  of  Common  Worship.  A  brief  read- 
ing,— which  is  made  more  helpful,  if  time 
permits,  by  having  the  family  join  in  the 
alternate  verses, — a  saying  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  unison,  and  a  prayer  out  of  a 
book,  and  the  service  is  completed.  It  is 
made  plain  to  the  children  that  the  pres- 
ence of  God,  and  the  sense  of  the  need  of 
His  protection,  and  the  desire  to  serve 
Him,  enter  into  the  family  life. 

Anyhow,  it  is  evident  to  all  reflective  per- 
sons that  the  most  important  achievement 
of  any  pair  of  parents  is  the  bringing  up 
of  children  in  what  is  called  a  ''godly, 
righteous  and  sober  life."  We  want  them 
to  have  sound  bodies;  we  want  them  to  be 
trained  to  take  a  successful  part  in  the  life 
III 


T^he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

about  them;  but  we  desire  supremely  that 
they  shall  be  good.  Nothing  else  can  take 
the  place  of  that.  And  to  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  purpose  it  is  necessary  to  give 
some  serious  attention,  to  take  some  time, 
and  perhaps  to  make  some  sacrifices.  If 
it  is  left  to  take  care  of  itself,  that  will  hap- 
pen which  takes  place  in  the  untended  gar- 
den: the  weeds  will  grow.  In  order  to 
secure  for  religion  a  place  of  importance 
in  the  lives  of  our  children,  we  must  some- 
how assure  them  that  we  care  a  great  deal 
about  it  ourselves.  Such  an  assurance,  in 
a  perfectly  natural  and  convincing  way,  is 
made  by  the  act  of  family  prayer.  Those 
who  are  honestly  intent  on  the  instruction 
of  children  in  religion  may  well  give  some 
careful  consideration  to  the  assistance  in 
this  process  which  is  rendered  by  a  house- 
hold service. 

Akin  to  family  prayers  is  another  good 
custom  which  we  are  unwisely  allowing  to 
pass  into  disuse, — the  habit  of  saying  grace 

112 


The  Silent  lnstructio7i  of  Example 

at  meals.  One  may  say,  of  course,  Why 
give  thanks  for  soup,  joint  and  sweet,  rather 
than  for  twenty  other  better  kinds  of  divine 
providence?  But  that  is  not  the  point. 
The  assembled  family,  the  listening  chil- 
dren, give  the  occasion.  The  purpose  is  to 
express  our  consciousness  of  God,  and 
thereby  to  aid  ourselves  and  our  children 
to  be  religious.  An  ancient  and  excellent 
custom  is  to  have  grace  said  by  the  little 
children  in  turn,  or  by  the  youngest. 
Robert  Herrick  was  not  a  very  pious  per- 
son, as  piety  is  understood  to-day:  his  verses 
are  not  to  be  unreservedly  commended  to 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
But  he  wrote  a  pretty  grace  for  children, 
which  is  still  remembered: 

*'  Here  a  little  child  I  stand, 
Heaving  up  my  either  hand; 
Cold  as  paddocks  though  they  be, 
Here  I  lift  them  up  to  Thee, 
For  a  benison  to  fall 
On  our  meat  and  on  us  all." 


113 


T^he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

Stevenson  in  his  ''Child's  Garden  of  Verses" 
takes  the  custom  for  granted. 

"  It  Is  very  nice  to  think 
The  world  Is  full  of  meat  and  drink, 
With  little  children  saying  grace 
In  every  Christian  kind  of  place." 

A  good  grace  in  prose  for  a  child,  or  for 
persons  of  any  age,  is  this:  "For  these  and 
all  His  mercies,  God's  Holy  Name  be 
praised."  That  is  enough.  It  keeps  the 
household  mindful  of  God. 

Even  more  important  than  church  attend- 
ance, family  prayers  and  grace  at  meals  is 
the  domestic  conversation.  Here  the  par- 
ents more  or  less  consciously  set  the  stand- 
ard of  value.  The  topics  of  conversation 
show  what  they  are  interested  in,  and  the 
tone  of  the  conversation  shows  what  spirit 
they  are  of.  Any  contemptuous  or  satirical 
or  hostile  treatment  of  the  institutions  of 
religion  makes  an  impression  on  the  recep- 
tive mind.  It  is  not  easy  to  forget  it 
114 


T'he  Silent  Instruction  of  Example 

These  institutions  are  open  to  honest  criti- 
cism.    They  have  many  times  deserved  it, 
and  received  it,  and  more  or  less  reluctantly 
profited  by  it.     The  service  and  the  sermon 
are  often  ill  done.     The  singing  is  off  the 
key,  and  the  preaching  contradicts  the  taste 
or  the  opinion  of  the  hearer.     And  it  is  not 
well  to  pretend  that  these  ministrations  are 
good.     They  may  be   improved   by   com- 
ment  and   dissent.     Unless,   however,    the 
offense  is  incessant  and  at  last  intolerable, 
or  the  teaching  is  such  as  ought  not  to  go 
without  denial,  it  is  highly  advisable  to  keep 
all    this    from    the    hearing    of    children. 
Partly  because  they  may  infer  from  it  a 
general  dislike  for  religion;  partly  because 
they  may  easily  fall  themselves  into  a  habit 
of  criticism  which  in  their  case  will  prob- 
ably be  most  superficial  and  unintelligent; 
and  partly  because  the  moral  attitude  which 
is  thus  encouraged  is  adverse  to  the  right 
psychological  relation  to  the  service  of  the 
church.     A  great  degree  of  the  helpfulness 
115 


^he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

of  church  attendance  is  due  to  certain  psy- 
chological influences.  They  who  go  in  the 
right  spirit  enter  into  the  quiet  of  the  place, 
refresh  their  souls  with  sounds  of  music 
whose  spiritual  value  is  not  so  much  resi- 
dent in  themselves  as  in  the  associations  of 
which  they  are  symbols,  are  ministered  to 
by  the  very  look  of  things,  and  have  their 
thoughts  carried  by  the  sermon  away  from 
the  matters  which  occupied  their  attention 
during  the  week  to  themes  which  are  of 
themselves  elevating  and  ennobling.  The 
critical  spirit  destroys  at  once  all  these  con- 
ditions which  make  for  the  peace  of  the 
soul.  When  it  was  said  of  our  Lord  that 
He  could  do  no  mighty  works  among  the 
people  of  Nazareth  "because  of  their  unbe- 
lief," the  record  was  a  clear  statement  of 
just  this  situation.  Thus  the  critical  par- 
ent, interposing  his  own  unsympathetic 
mind  between  the  service  and  himself, 
misses  whatever  blessing  it  may  contain; 
and  when  his  example  makes  his  children 
ii6 


T'he  Silent  Instruction  of  Example 

of  the  same  disposition,  he  prevents  them 
also  from  getting  the  assistance  of  religion. 
But  at  the  heart  of  conversation  is  char- 
acter. The  fact  that  it  is  not  so  much  what 
is  said  as  how  it  is  said  that  counts,  is  an  evi- 
dence of  the  potency  of  character,  which  is 
revealed  in  the  manner  more  clearly  than 
in  the  matter  of  our  words.  It  is  plain  that 
in  the  whole  curriculum  of  the  silent  in- 
struction of  example  no  lesson  is  so  im- 
portant as  the  constant  lesson  of  character. 
When  St.  Paul  said,  "Brethren,  be  follow- 
ers together  of  me,  and  mark  them  which 
walk  so  as  ye  have  us  for  an  example,"  he 
showed  a  confidence  which  we  will  hardly 
venture  to  assert,  but  at  the  same  time  he 
revealed  his  mastery  of  the  method  of  re- 
ligious instruction.  Nothing  could  be 
more  simple  or  more  effective.  His  dis- 
ciples were  to  watch  him,  and  do  what  they 
saw  him  do.  They  were  to  be  like  him. 
Parents  say  that  to  their  children,  by  the 
mere  fact  of  their  existence  and  relation- 
117 


T^he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

ship.  The  children  come  gradually  to  per- 
ceive the  value  of  the  religion  of  their  par- 
ents by  discovering  what  it  actually  makes 
of  them.  What  sort  of  persons  are  they  be- 
cause of  their  religion?  Are  they  patient, 
kind,  fair,  considerate,  cheerful,  helpful? 
That  which  they  do  with  their  money  is 
plain  enough:  they  live  in  such  and  such 
a  way,  proportioned  to  it;  they  buy  things 
with  it,  and  thus  enjoy  it.  What  is  it  actu- 
ally which  religion  adds  to  them?  When 
money  fails,  and  plans  go  wrong,  and  sick- 
ness comes,  and  the  world  withdraws  its 
consolation,  is  there  in  religion  that  cour- 
age and  comfort  which  the  books  say? 
How  does  it  honestly  work?  What  fruit 
of  good  living  does  it  bear? 

There  are  fathers  and  mothers  who  have 
never  in  their  lives  preached  to  their  chil- 
dren in  the  spoken  language  of  religion, 
whose  good  examples  have  been  convincing 
and  enduring  sermons.  The  honesty  of 
honest  fathers  in  the  midst  of  the  tempta- 
u8 


T'he  Silent  Instruction  of  Example 

tions  of  business,  the  serenity  of  sick  and 
afflicted  mothers, — these  are  plain  religious 
results  which  win  for  religion  the  respect, 
the  reverence  and  the  allegiance  of  the  chil- 
dren. When  they  asked  in  ancient  Rome, 
''What  made  our  ancestors  stronger  and 
better  than  we?"  and  answered,  "It  was 
their  religion,"  they  presented  thereby  the 
most  convincing  of  arguments.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  the  religion  which  had  thus  re- 
vealed itself  in  character  was  the  real  thing. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  PRACTICE  OF  PRAYER 

QORMALLY,  the  first  actual  lesson 
in  religion  will  be  an  elementary 
instruction  in  the  ancient  and  uni- 
versal practice  of  prayer.  The  child  will 
kneel  beside  his  mother,  and  she  will  repeat 
at  first  for  him  and  afterwards  with  him, 
the  words  of  petition. 

In  so  doing,  the  mother  will  contradict 
a  very  respectable  theory  regarding  human 
nature.  This  theory  is  that  the  act  and  the 
understanding,  and  more  especially  the 
word  and  the  understanding,  ought  to  go 
together.  This  implies  that  the  child 
should  not  be  made  to  do  or  to  say  that 
which  makes  no  appeal  to  his  reason.  It  is 
frequently  urged  against  the  memorizing 
of  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the 
1 20 


T'he  Practice  of  Prayer 


Ten  Commandments.  It  is  sometimes 
pressed  so  far  as  to  persuade  parents  to  de- 
lay almost  all  religious  instruction  until 
their  children  have  reached  the  years  of 
some  discretion.  It  would  forbid  the  reci- 
tation of  prayers  by  little  children. 

This  theory,  however,  is  one  of  those 
merely  academic  propositions  which,  how- 
ever sustained  by  logic,  surrender  at  the 
first  vigorous  attack  of  experience.  It  has 
a  reasonable  sound,  but  it  is  not  true  to  the 
psychological  facts.  The  human  mind 
does  not  work  that  way.  In  the  order  of 
progress,  the  explanation  of  things  appears 
long  after  the  things.  First  the  things,  then, 
as  we  grow  wiser  or  older,  the  thingness  of 
things.  Thus  it  is  fairly  maintained  by 
students  of  the  Old  Testament  that  the  book 
of  Job,  which  is  without  date  or  note  of 
time,  belongs  to  a  late  stage  in  the  history 
of  Israel.  The  fact  of  pain,  about  which 
the  book  is  centered,  is  indeed  one  of  the 
earliest  of  facts ;  and  the  scenery  and  action 

121 


T'he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Keligion 

of  the  book  are  so  simple  as  to  seem  prim- 
itive; but  it  is  argued  from  the  literary 
phenomena  of  all  peoples  that  the  endeavor 
of  Job  to  explain  what  pain  means  is  evi- 
dence that  he  and  his  contemporaries  have 
come  into  the  reflective  period.  And  that 
period  is  late  with  nations  as  it  is  with  indi- 
viduals. 

The  normal  child  does  not  reflect.  He 
does,  indeed,  ask  ^'Why?"  incessantly,  but 
he  is  not  in  search  of  a  philosophical  an- 
swer, nor  able  to  receive  it.  And  mean- 
while he  is  continually  learning  things  the 
reasons  for  which  are  altogether  beyond  his 
understanding.  One  of  these  things  is  the 
alphabet,  another  is  the  multiplication 
table.  These  are  imposed  upon  him  by 
authority.  He  is  made  to  commit  them  to 
memory,  although  the  alphabet  makes  no 
appeal  to  his  reason  whatever,  and  the  mul- 
tiplication table, — after  our  most  careful 
explanations, — is  taken  without  reflection  as 
one  of  the  conditions  of  a  mysterious  world. 

122 


^he  Practice  of  Prayer 


Language,  also,  is  arbitrary;  names  are 
given  to  objects  without  obvious  reason. 
Social  customs  are  arbitrary.  Civilization 
is  gently  forced  upon  the  growing  child, 
without  his  choice,  and  without  other  argu- 
ment than  the  will  of  his  elders.  The  proc- 
ess of  early  discipline  is  for  the  sake  of 
bringing  him  to  accept  a  great  body  of  tra- 
dition, most  of  which  exceeds  his  under- 
standing. Nobody  dreams  of  leaving  him 
to  his  aboriginal  savagery  until  he  has  op- 
portunity to  examine  our  civilization  and 
decide  whether  or  not  it  meets  his  inclina- 
tions. Often  quite  against  his  will,  we 
civilize  him  and  educate  him. 

And  the  same  logic  of  good  sense  holds 
in  religion.  Here  also  the  child  is  to  be 
initiated  into  the  common  tradition.  He 
is  to  be  related  to  the  church  as  he  is  related 
to  the  school.  As  he  is  civilized,  he  is  also 
to  be  christianized.  As  he  is  taught  the 
multiplication  table  and  the  alphabet,  he  is 
to  be  taught  the  Creed,  the  Ten  Command- 
9  123 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

ments  and  the  Lord's  Prayer.  As  he  is 
made  to  eat  with  his  fork  instead  of  his 
knife,  so  he  is  made  to  kneel  down  when  he 
says  his  prayers.  All  these  different  things 
belong  to  the  same  department  of  psychol- 
ogy, and  have  their  foundation  in  the  same 
conclusions  of  experience.  There  is  no 
more  reason  for  setting  religion  apart  from 
the  rest  of  life  than  for  dealing  in  like  man- 
ner with  instruction  in  health  or  in  behav- 
ior. All  these  belong  to  the  general 
nature  of  things,  and  are  to  be  taken  nat- 
urally. 

Religion  is  the  most  ancient  of  all 
branches  of  instruction.  It  antedates  the 
alphabet  by  thousands  of  years.  It  began 
to  be  taught  when  Eve  held  Cain  on  one 
knee  and  Abel  on  the  other  beside  the  gate 
of  Eden.  And  the  immemorial  custom  is 
to  teach  both  rites  and  words  before  the 
children  know  the  significance  of  either. 
It  has  been  found  that  rites  and  words  be- 
yond their  understanding  are  like  seeds 
124 


The  Practice  of  Prayer 


planted  in  the  soil,  to  grow  when  the  time 
comes  and  the  conditions  favor. 

Indeed,  in  the  matter  of  the  great  reli- 
gious formulas,  such  as  the  Creed,  the  Ten 
Commandments  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the 
difference  between  the  children  and  their 
parents  is  one  of  degree  only.  None  of  us 
understands  any  part  of  these  great  state- 
ments fully.  Each  of  us,  beginning  with 
some  sort  of  idea,  sufficient  for  the  moment, 
finds  it  more  and  more  interpreted,  some- 
times changed,  sometimes  enriched,  by  our 
experience.  Our  idea  of  God,  for  example, 
comes  to  have  new  contents  as  the  years 
pass.  And  this  is  true  of  the  race.  Prog- 
ress in  every  direction  is  made  by  a  better 
understanding  of  the  common  life.  Steam, 
for  instance,  had  been  in  existence  among 
men  since  fire  and  water  met,  but  at  last 
one  man,  watching  it  and  reflecting  upon 
it,  connected  it  with  a  machine,  and  altered 
the  whole  condition  of  industrial  society. 
So  Darwin  took  the  ancient  doctrine  of 
125 


T'he  Training  of  Cliildren  in  Religion 

creation, — the  belief  in  God  as  the  Maker 
of  the  world, — and  disclosed  marvelous 
processes  which  we  had  never  before  ob- 
served. The  faith  is  all  the  time  undergo- 
ing this  interpretation,  whereby,  though  the 
old  words  remain,  they  are  filled  with  new 
meanings.  The  first  step  is  to  get  the  words 
into  the  mind,  then  the  meanings  will  grow 
out  of  them  according  to  the  mysterious 
providence  which  brings  the  oak  out  of  the 
acorn. 

Thus  kneeling  is  taught,  like  walking; 
the  words  are  taught  like  the  words  of  the 
vocabulary  of  common  life.  The  habit  is 
secured.  There  is  plenty  of  time  for  ex- 
planation and  application  when  the  child 
asks  for  it.  The  first  necessity  is  to  have 
the  thing  itself,  which  may  be  interpreted 
by  instruction  and  experience,  and  concern- 
ing which  we  all  learn  more  the  older  we 
grow,  and,  even  at  our  wisest,  know  but  a 
part. 

As  for  the  words  of  prayer,  objection 
126 


T^he  Practice  of  Prayer 


may  be  made  reasonably  against  the  famil- 
iar and  time-hallowed,  ''Now  I  lay  me  down 
to  sleep."  It  is  an  inadequate  and  rather 
selfish  petition  and  it  dwells  with  inordinate 
emphasis  on  the  immediate  probability  of 
death.  The  idea  of  death  is  naturally  and 
properly  remote  from  the  minds  of  chil- 
dren; and  the  suggestion  that  we  are  quite 
likely  to  die  before  we  wake  is  not  sup- 
ported by  ordinary  experience.  Mrs.  Mary 
Duncan,  in  1839,  composed  for  her  chil- 
dren a  rhyming  prayer  which  has  found  its 
way  into  several  collections  of  hymns,  and 
into  common  use. 

"  Jesus,  tender  Shepherd,  hear  me, 
Bless  Thy  little  lamb  to-night; 
Through  the  darkness  be  Thou  near  me; 
Keep  me  safe  till  morning  light. 

"  All  this  day  Thy  hand  has  led  me, 
And  I  thank  Thee  for  Thy  care; 
Thou  has  warmed  me,  clothed  and  fed  me; 
Listen  to  my  evening  prayer ! 


127 


T^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

"  Let  my  sins  be  all  forgiven; 

Bless  the  friends  I  love  so  well; 
Take  us  all  at  last  to  heaven, 

Happy  there  with  Thee  to  dwell." 

A  simple  prayer  in  prose,  for  little  children, 
is  in  these  words:  ''O  Lord  our  Heavenly 
Father,  lead  me,  guard  me,  help  me,  bless 
me,  keep  me,  make  me  pure  and  brave 
and  true  in  all  I  think  and  say  and  do!" 
Here  the  single  echo  of  a  rhyme  assists  the 
memory.  Another  prayer  is  this:  "O  Lord, 
our  Heavenly  Father,  I  thank  Thee  for 
Thy  love  and  care  for  me  to-day;  forgive 
my  sins ;  bless  all  for  w^hom  I  ought  to  pray ; 
and  help  us  all  to  love  Thee  more  and  more ; 
through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord."  What- 
ever formal  prayer  is  taught,  the  children 
will  be  instructed  to  end  it  with  interces- 
sion: "God  bless  father  and  mother,"  and 
the  other  members  of  the  household  by 
name.  As  soon  as  possible,  the  Lord's 
Prayer  should  be  added.  When  children 
begin  to  go  to  school,  the  time  may  be  taken 
128 


T: he  Practice  of  Prayer 


as  an  opportunity  to  revise  their  prayers. 
And  the  same  may  be  done  when  they  are 
ready  to  pass  out  of  the  lower  grades  into 
the  high  school.  In  this  way,  the  deepen- 
ing and  enriching  of  religion  is  a  natural 
accompaniment  to  the  progress  of  their  ed- 
ucation. 

At  the  second  of  these  periods  of  liturgi- 
cal revision,  the  child  may  be  given  a  book 
of  prayers.  This,  of  course,  supposes  that 
the  parents  are  accustomed  to  the  use  of 
such  precomposed  devotions.  Where  the 
habit  of  the  family  is  to  pray  without  a 
book,  instruction  may  well  be  given  at  this 
point  as  to  the  order  of  petition. 

We  kneel  down,  in  order  that  our  bodies 
as  well  as  our  minds  and  souls  may  be  made 
a  part  of  our  offering  of  praise  and  prayer; 
and  also  because  a  devout  posture  of  body 
assists  a  devout  posture  of  mind.  A  neg- 
ligent, lounging  attitude  is  not  only  out  of 
keeping  with  our  occupation,  but  has  a 
psychological  effect  upon  us.  We  begin  to 
129 


l^he  l^raining  of  Cliildren  in  Religion 

pray  aright,  by  entering  into  that  disposi- 
tion of  body  which  has  been  found  not  only 
most  appropriate  but  most  helpful.  We 
kneel  down,  as  the  English  Prayerbook 
says,  ^'upon  our  knees,"  and  the  detailed 
suggestion  is  seen  to  be  needed  when  we  ob- 
serve the  easy  habit  of  some  who  kneel  upon 
their  foreheads. 

Thus  kneeling,  we  begin  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  presence  of  God.  Before 
a  word  of  prayer  is  spoken,  we  consider 
what  it  is  that  we  are  about  to  do.  We  are 
in  the  divine  presence,  and  are  to  speak  to 
God.  Here  we  kneel  on  the  surface  of  this 
little  globe,  the  earth,  and  look  out  into  the 
immensities  and  eternities.  We  are  to 
speak  to  the  Unseen.  We  are  to  address 
God,  who  is  indeed  our  Father,  and  is  thus 
to  be  approached  with  love  and  confidence, 
but  who  is  also  our  Maker,  and  the  Maker 
and  Ruler  of  all  the  universe;  the  God  of 
our  life,  but  the  God  also  of  the  centuries 
and  of  the  stars.  The  Lord's  Prayer  sounds 
130 


T^he  Practice  of  Prayer 


the  true  note  of  devotion  when  it  begins 
"Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven."  The 
words  set  side  by  side  the  love  and  the 
power  of  God,  the  nearness  and  the  great- 
ness of  God.  Thus  we  say,  "Let  the  words 
of  my  mouth  and  the  meditation  of  my  heart 
be  alway  acceptable  in  Thy  sight,  O  Lord, 
my  Strength  and  my  Redeemer."  Or  we 
use  an  ancient  Christian  formula  of  good 
beginning,  and  say,  "In  the  name  of  God"; 
or,  "In  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the 
Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  as  we 
say  the  words  we  try  to  realize  what  we  are 
about.  Or  else,  we  say  no  words  at  all,  but 
think  in  silence.  A  good  many  hasty  and 
ill-considered  prayers  would  be  corrected 
by  such  a  method  of  reverent  approach.  It 
changes  the  saying  of  one's  prayers  into 
genuine  prayer. 

Then  the  prayer  may  begin  with  words 

of  gratitude, — for  preservation  and  health, 

for  the  manifold  blessings  of  our  lives,  for 

any  special  manifestation  of  the  divine  care 

131 


^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

and  compassion.  If  it  is  in  the  morning, 
this  thanksgiving  may  be  followed  by  an  an- 
ticipation of  the  ensuing  day,  its  tasks  and 
its  temptations,  its  special  needs  of  guidance 
and  strength:  thus  and  thus  are  to  be  the 
occupations  of  our  day;  may  the  Lord  help 
us  to  meet  them  in  a  Christian  manner, 
after  the  example  of  our  Master;  may  He 
defend  us  ''from  all  adversities  which  may 
happen  to  the  body,  and  from  all  evil 
thoughts  which  may  assault  and  hurt  the 
soul";  may  He  grant  to  us  ''such  strength 
and  protection  as  may  support  us  in  all  dan- 
gers, and  carry  us  through  all  temptations." 
If  it  is  in  the  evening,  this  anticipation  may 
be  changed  into  examination.  How  has 
the  day  gone?  What  have  we  said  and 
done?  Especially,  in  what  details  of 
speech  or  action  have  we  conducted  our- 
selves amiss?  To  what  temptations  have 
we  yielded?  Into  what  negligences  or 
offenses  have  we  fallen?  May  the  Lord 
forgive  us,  and  help  us  to  do  better;  may 
132 


T^he  Practice  of  Prayer 


He  spare  us  who  confess  our  faults,  and 
restore  us  who  are  penitent,  according  to 
the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord;  may 
He  help  us  to  live  a  godly,  righteous  and 
sober  life. 

After  this  anticipation  or  examination 
will  come  intercession.  We  will  pray  for 
those  who  are  by  nature  a  part  of  our  own 
life,  and  for  others  with  whom  we  are  asso- 
ciated, and  for  classes  and  groups  of  peo- 
ple, such  as  are  remembered  in  the  Litany 
or  in  the  customary  prayers  of  the  churches, 
— those  who  are  in  places  of  civil  and  spir- 
itual authority,  those  who  by  their  debates 
and  votes  are  making  our  laws,  those  who 
are  in  the  service  of  great  causes ;  and,  with 
them,  those  for  whose  welfare  the  great 
causes  are  undertaken,  who  are  grievously 
tempted,  who  are  in  suffering,  who  are  op- 
pressed by  poverty.  All  this  is  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  which  is  a  form  of 
social  intercession,  whose  plural  pronouns 
rebuke  the  narrowness  of  the  petitions  which 
133 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

take    into    account    only   one's    immediate 
family. 

In  the  elementary  prayers  of  early  child- 
hood, or  in  these  advanced  prayers  wherein 
youth  enters  into  the  spiritual  fellowship 
of  all  the  saints,  what  place  shall  be  given 
to  the  desire  for  specific  material  blessings? 
Shall  prayer  be  encouraged  for  good 
weather  for  a  holiday,  for  success  in  study 
or  in  sport,  or  for  things  desired,  beginning 
with  new  toys?  The  sanction  of  this  kind 
of  prayer  is  given  in  the  custom  of  all 
churches  and  people  to  pray  for  the  recov- 
ery of  the  sick.  There  is  a  definite,  mate- 
rial blessing  which  we  ask  for  by  instinct. 
And  the  instinct  is  confirmed  by  many  in- 
stances of  such  asking  and  answering  in  the 
Bible.  Children  ought,  then,  to  be  encour- 
aged, when  occasion  arises,  to  pray  such 
prayers  as  that.  That  the  offering  of  such 
intercessions  is  of  actual  avail,  makes  a  dif- 
ference, accomplishes  something,  is  im- 
pressed upon  us  by  a  new  perception  of  the 
134 


The  Practice  of  Prayer 


connection  between  faith  and  recovery. 
There  is  in  the  process  of  recovery  some- 
what more  than  medicine.  The  patient  is 
perceived  to  be  a  person  mysteriously  made 
up  of  soul  and  body.  The  two  are  united 
in  a  manner  which  passes  our  understand- 
ing, but  united  they  are.  The  process  of 
healing  has  to  do  with  the  whole  man.  And 
prayer  is  a  part  of  it.  Whether  it  affects 
the  will  of  God,  who  waits  for  our  earnest 
asking,  or  the  will  of  the  patient  which  by 
our  faith  is  strengthened,  we  cannot  say. 
But,  as  a  result  of  recent  developments  in 
religion  and  in  medicine,  people  are  now 
praying  for  the  sick  with  a  new  courage. 

The  case  of  rain  or  shine  is  different,  but 
the  old  theory  that  the  prayer  for  a  change 
of  weather  is  a  prayer  for  a  change  in  a 
series  of  causes  and  effects  which  goes  back 
to  the  creation  of  the  world,  is  now  seen  to 
be  mistaken.  There  is  no  reason,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  why  God  should  not  send 
or  withhold  the  rain  in  answer  to  our 
^35 


T^he  Training  of  Children  in  Religioit 

prayers.     Such  an  answer  ''need  involve  no 
greater  interference  with  the  order  of  na- 
ture than  is  implied  in  a  request  to  a  gar- 
dener   to    water    the    garden."     "Let    us 
bethink  ourselves,"  says  Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 
"that  it  is  not  an  inconceivable  possibility 
that'  at   some   future    date   mankind   may 
acquire  some  control  over  the  weather,  and 
be  able  to  influence  it;  not  merely  in  an 
indirect  manner,  as  at  present  they  can  afifect 
climate,  by  felling  forests  or  flooding  des- 
erts, but  in  some  more  direct  fashion;  in 
that  case,   prayers   for   rain  would  begin 
again,  only  the  petitions  would  be  addressed 
not  to  heaven,  but  to  the  Meteorological 
Office.    We  do  not  at  present  ask  the  secre- 
tary of  that  government  department  to  im- 
prove our  seasons,  simply  because  we  do  not 
think  that  he  knows  how;  if  we  thought  he 
did,  we  should  have  no  hesitation,  on  the 
score  of  his  possible  non-existence,   or  a 
doubt  lest  our  letter  should  never  reach  him. 
Professor  Tyndall's  dogma  will,  if  pressed, 
136 


'T'he  Practice  of  Prayer 


be  found  to  embody  one  of  these  last  alter- 
natives, although  superficially  it  pretends 
to  make  the  somewhat  grotesque  suggestion 
that  the  alteration  requested  is  so  compli- 
cated and  involved,  that  really,  with  the  best 
intentions  in  the  world,  the  Deity  does  not 
know  how  to  do  it."  What  we  ask  is 
simply  that  God  will  do  what  we  ourselves 
can  do  as  regards  our  own  yard,  and  what 
we  would  do  on  a  larger  scale  if  men  were 
only  wise  and  strong  enough. 

Indeed,  the  prayers  of  children  for  good 
weather  and  for  other  specific  answers  pro- 
ceed logically  from  our  teaching  of  the  be- 
ing, the  might  and  the  love  of  God.  We 
tell  the  children  that  God  cares  for  every 
one  of  us,  that  He  is  interested  in  the  lives 
even  of  the  smallest  and  youngest,  and  that 
the  world  in  which  we  live  is  His  world. 
His  house  in  which  we  His  children  live; 
and  the  proper  inference  is  that  we  may  all 
bring  to  Him  our  earnest  desires,  and  ask 
Him  to  fulfill  them.  This  is  the  creed 
137 


T'he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

practically  applied.  Prayer  is  an  expres- 
sion of  our  belief  in  the  being  and  the  love 
of  God. 

The  difficulty  is  in  the  fact  that  such  spe- 
cific prayers  seem  to  offer  an  immediate  test 
of  this  belief.  And  the  plain  evidence  of 
such  a  test  is  that  God  does  not  always  an- 
sv^er  us.  The  child  prays  for  a  fair  day, 
and  it  rains.  Then,  unless  we  have  some 
reasonable  explanation  to  make,  the  child 
infers  either  that  the  unseen  being  of  whom 
we  have  told  him  does  not  exist,  or  that  his 
parents  do  not  know  so  much  about  God 
as  he  thought  they  did,  or  that  God,  if  He 
does  exist,  does  not  care,  or  is  not  afifected 
by  our  desires;  and,  in  any  case,  that  it  is 
of  no  use  to-  pray.  Against  these  infer- 
ences, it  is  our  business  as  religious  teachers 
to  instruct  him. 

The  easiest  illustration  is  the  example  of 
the  younger  children.  They  are  contin- 
ually expressing  their  desires;  they  are  ask- 
ing for  things  with   almost  every  breath. 

138 


T'he  Practice  of  Prayer 


And  this  differs  from  what  we  call  prayer 
only  in  that  they  make  these  requests  of 
their  parents  instead  of  making  them  of 
God.  All  these  wishes  of  the  little  chil- 
dren in  the  nursery  are  essentially  prayers. 
All  of  these  prayers  are  heard;  they  enter 
into  the  ears  of  elder  persons  who  are  able, 
in  most  cases,  to  grant  them  if  they  will. 
The  elders  are  pleased  to  have  the  children 
make  these  prayers;  they  like  to  be  asked 
for  this  and  that;  they  are  glad  to  be  in- 
formed as  to  the  needs  and  interests  and 
wishes  of  their  children.  In  the  order  of 
nature,  they  would  do  many  of  the  things 
which  they  are  asked  to  do  without  asking; 
nevertheless,  the  asking  is  a  pleasure  to  their 
ears.  It  is  an  expression  of  a  very  blessed 
dependence  and  trust.  Some  of  these  re- 
quests are  granted ;  and  are  granted  because 
the  requests  are  made.  The  parents  do 
things  which  they  might  otherwise  not  do, 
because  they  are  requested.  But  many  re- 
quests are  not  granted.  Children  ask  for 
10  139 


T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

impossible    things,     and     for    undesirable 
things.     Sometimes  they  ask  their  parents 
to  do  at  this  moment  that  which  may  better 
be  done  at  a  later  time.     Sometimes  they 
ask  for  that  which  while  it  would  make 
them  happy  would  conflict  with  the  hap- 
piness of  others,  and  with  the  wise  plans 
and  customs  of  the  family.     These  prayers 
are  not  answered.     The  children  are  often 
grieved    about    it.     They    cry    aloud.     It 
seems   to   them   that   they   are   dealt  with 
hardly.     But  that  is  because  they  do  not 
understand.    They  cannot  understand.    The 
older  children,  looking  on,  appreciate  the 
situation.     An    inference   from    the   unan- 
swered prayers  of  children  that  their  par- 
ents did  not  exist,  or  did  not  care,  or  that 
prayer  is  of  no  use,  is  as  absurd  as  a  similar 
inference    from    the    unanswered    prayers 
which  are  made  to  God.     When  the  chil- 
dren are  old  enough  to  ask  questions  about 
prayer,  they  should  be  instructed  by  this 
illustration.     They   are   to   pray,    as    their 
140 


^he  Practice  of  Prayer 


younger  brothers  and  sisters  ask  for  things; 
but  they  are  to  expect  to  be  answered  only 
in  accordance  with  the  wise  will  of  God. 
They  are  to  be  told  beforehand  that  their 
^  prayers  will  not  compel  God,  any  more  than 
the  requests  of  small  children  compel  their 
parents.  God  will  grant  them  if  He  sees 
fit.  If  they  are  not  granted,  the  meaning 
is  that  God  did  not  see  fit  to  do  so.  The 
hard  sayings  of  the  Bible  about  the  prayer 
of  faith  removing  mountains,  and  about  the 
divine  fulfillment  of  the  prayers  offered  by 
the  faithful  who  agree  together  to  ask  God, 
and  all  the  strong  promises  which  perplex 
the  minds  of  children,  are  to  be  kept  side 
by  side  with  our  Lord's  saying,  ^^Not  My 
will  but  Thine  be  done."  Children  are  to 
be  taught  that  that  is  the  essential  condi- 
tion of  all  true  prayer.  The  Bible  repeat- 
edly affirms  the  effectiveness  of  prayer,  and 
denies  that  its  only  value  is  to  induce  in  us 
a  submissive  mind,  and  experience  confirms 
this  estimate.  But  even  the  collective 
141 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

prayer  of  great  companies  of  good  people 
is  not  properly  an  endeavor  to  compel  God. 
It  submits  the  will  of  man  to  the  divine 
consideration.  We  are  to  pray  in  all  earn- 
estness for  all  things  which  we  desire,  but 
the  purpose  of  our  most  eager  petitions 
must  be  to  submit  these  matters,  in  all  devout 
dependence  and  trust,  like  good  children, 
to  the  judgment  and  decision  of  the  infinite 
wisdom  of  our  heavenly  Father. 


CHAPTER   IX 
A  TREASURY  OF  DEVOTION 

CHE  prayers  of  little  children  will, 
of  course,  be  without  variation,  the 
same  prayer  day  after  day;  except 
as  the  child,  of  his  own  mind  or  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  his  parents,  may  add  special  peti- 
tions or  intercessions.  As  the  children 
grow  older,  and  the  time  comes  for  them 
to  say  their  prayers  by  themselves,  they  may 
learn  other  forms  by  heart  or  may  read  them 
out  of  a  book.  Such  prayers  will  not  differ 
necessarily  from  those  which  are  used  by 
older  persons.  They  will  naturally  be 
brief  and  simple,  but  these  are  good  quali- 
ties in  all  our  devotions.  The  same  prayers 
which  may  be  commended  to  children  of 
high-school  age  may  serve  as  well  for  use 
at  household  worship.  In  the  composi- 
143 


^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

tion  and  selection  of  the  prayers  which  fol- 
low, I  have  had  both  of  these  needs  in  mind. 
In  the  first  selection  of  the  prayers  for 
each  of  the  days  of  the  week,  the  first  prayer 
in  each  instance  is  taken  from  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  and  the  second,  with  some 
changes,  from  Short  Prayers  for  Family 
Devotions  by  the  Rev.  H.  Stobart,  pub- 
lished in  England  by  the  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge,  In  the  sec- 
ond series,  the  first  prayers  are  from  the 
Book  of  Common  Worship,  published 
under  the  direction  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  the 
second  prayers  are  freely  adapted  from 
various  sources. 

I 

Sunday 

Lord  of  all  power  and  might,  who  art 

the  author  and  giver  of  all  good  things; 

graft  in  our  hearts  the  love  of  Thy  name, 

increase  in  us  true  religion,  nourish  us  with 

144 


A   Treasury  of  Devotion 

all  goodness,  and  of  Thy  great  mercy  keep 
us  in  the  same;  through  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Lord.     Amen, 

O  most  holy  and  most  merciful  Father, 
who  of  Thy  goodness  hast  provided  for  us 
in  this  place  a  house  set  apart  for  Thy  wor- 
ship and  service;  dispose  our  hearts  to  rev- 
erence Thy  sanctuary;  vouchsafe,  we  be- 
seech Thee,  to  be  there  in  the  midst  of  us 
this  day;  pardon  all  our  unworthiness,  and 
enable  us  to  present  ourselves,  our  souls  and 
bodies,  a  living  sacrifice,  holy  and  accept- 
able unto  Thee;  through  Jesus  Christ,  our 
Lord.     Amen. 

Monday 

O  God,  who  hast  prepared  for  those  who 
love  Thee  such  good  things  as  pass  man's 
understanding;  pour  into  our  hearts  such 
love  toward  Thee  that  we,  loving  Thee 
above  all  things,  may  obtain  Thy  promises, 
which  exceed  all  that  we  can  desire; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen, 
145 


T^'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

O  God,  who  seest  the  ways  of  man,  and 
countest  all  his  steps;  we  meekly  beseech 
Thee,  of  Thy  great  love,  to  order  and  pro- 
tect our  goings  this  week  and  for  evermore, 
and  to  grant  that  in  all  our  sojourn  here  we 
have  the  assurance  of  Thine  assisting  pres- 
ence, and  may  always  perceive  what  Thou 
wouldest  have  us  to  do,  and  may  perform 
it  according  to  Thy  will;  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.     Amen, 

Tuesday 

O  God,  the  protector  of  all  that  trust  in 
Thee,  without  whom  nothing  is  strong, 
nothing  is  holy;  increase  and  multiply  upon 
us  Thy  mercy,  that,  Thou  being  our  ruler 
and  guide,  we  may  so  pass  through  things 
temporal,  that  we  finally  lose  not  the  things 
eternal.  Grant  this,  O  heavenly  Father, 
for  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  our  Lord.     Amen, 

O  Lord,  we  beseech  Thee  to  visit  us  this 
day  with  Thy  loving-kindness.  Give  us 
grace  faithfully  to  fulfill  our  duties  to  Thee 
146 


A  T'reasury  of  Devotion 


and  to  each  other.  Make  us  kind  and  cour- 
teous unto  all  men,  honest  in  our  dealings, 
truthful  in  our  words,  guileless  in  our 
thoughts.  Strengthen  us  to  bear  with  pa- 
tience whatsoever  trials  may  be  in  store  for 
us,  preserve  us  from  the  sins  which  do  most 
easily  beset  us,  and  enable  us  this  day  and 
ever  to  walk  worthy  of  our  Christian  call- 
ing; through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

Wednesday 

Grant  to  us,  Lord,  we  beseech  Thee,  the 

spirit  to  think  and  do  always  such  things 
as  are  right;  that  we,  who  cannot  do  any- 
thing that  is  good  without  Thee,  may  by 
Thee  be  enabled  to  live  according  to  Thy 
will;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

O  Lord,  Who  hast  given  us  sleep  to  re- 
fresh and  strengthen  us,  vouchsafe  us  this 
day  a  holy,  peaceful,  sinless  course.     Grant 
to  our  souls  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  our  bodies 
147 


T^he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

Thy  blessed  protection.  Deliver  us  from 
all  our  temptations,  and  teach  us  to  do  the 
things  that  please  Thee;  through  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord.     Amen, 

Thursday 

O  Lord,  our  heavenly  Father,  almighty 
and  everlasting  God,  Who  hast  safely 
brought  us  to  the  beginning  of  this  day; 
defend  us  in  the  same  with  Thy  mighty 
power ;  and  grant  that  this  day  we  fall  into 
no  sin,  neither  run  into  any  kind  of  danger; 
but  that  all  our  doings,  being  ordered  by 
Thy  governance,  may  be  righteous  in  Thy 
sight;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

Into  Thy  hands,  most  gracious  Father, 
we  commit  ourselves  and  all  belonging  to 
us,  this  day.  Grant  that  we  may  pass  this 
and  every  day  in  the  perfecting  of  holiness, 
in  health,  and  peace  and  quietness,  and  in- 
nocence, to  the  glory  of  Thy  name ;  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 
148 


A  T'reasury  of  Devotion 

Friday 

Almighty  God,  Who  seest  that  we  have 
no  power  of  ourselves  to  help  ourselves; 
keep  us  both  outwardly  in  our  bodies  and 
inwardly  in  our  souls;  that  we  may  be  de- 
fended from  all  adversities  which  may  hap- 
pen to  the  body,  and  from  all  evil  thoughts 
which  may  assault  and  hurt  the  soul; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

O  almighty  God,  Whom  without  faith  it 
is  not  possible  to  please;  enable  us,  we  be- 
seech Thee,  so  perfectly  to  believe  in  Thy 
Son  Jesus  Christ  that  our  faith  in  Thy  sight 
may  never  be  reproved;  and  grant  that  as 
we  are  called  to  a  knowledge  of  Thy  grace 
and  faith  in  Thee,  we  may  avoid  all  those 
things  that  are  contrary  to  our  profession, 
and  follow  all  such  things  as  are  agreeable 
to  the  same;  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.     Amen, 


149 


The  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

Saturday 

O  almighty  God,  Who  alone  canst  order 
the  unruly  wills  and  affections  of  sinful 
men;  grant  unto  Thy  people  that  they  may 
love  the  thing  that  Thou  commandest,  and 
desire  that  which  Thou  dost  promise;  that 
so  among  the  sundry  and  manifold  changes 
of  the  world  our  hearts  may  surely  there  be 
fixed  where  true  joys  are  to  be  found; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen, 

We  offer  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  our  praises 
and  thanksgivings  for  all  Thy  mercies  mul- 
tiplied upon  us,  more  than  we  can  number 
and  greater  than  we  can  express.  More 
especially  do  we  praise  Thee  for  those  spir- 
itual blessings  which  Thou  hast  revealed 
to  us  in  the  gospel  of  Thy  Son.  Eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  en- 
tered into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which 
Thou,  O  God,  hast  prepared  for  those  who 
love  Thee.  Give  us  grace,  O  Lord,  to  love 
Thee  more  and  more,  till  we  come  to  Thine 
150 


A  T'reasury  of  Devotion 

everlasting  kingdom ;  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.     Amen, 


II 

Sunday 

Eternal  God,  our  Maker  and  our  Lord, 
Giver  of  all  grace,  from  Whom  every  good 
prayer  cometh,  and  Who  pourest  Thj 
Spirit  upon  all  v^ho  seek  Thee;  deliver  us, 
w^hen  v^e  draw  nigh  to  Thee,  from  coldness 
of  heart  and  w^anderings  of  mind;  that  w^ith 
steadfast  thoughts  and  pure  affections  v^e 
may  w^orship  Thee  in  spirit  and  in  truth; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

O  God,  Who  makest  both  the  darkness 
and  the  light,  and  turnest  the  shadow^  of 
death  into  the  morning,  receive,  v^e  beseech 
Thee,  our  prayers  and  thanksgivings,  and 
enrich  us  now  and  ever  with  the  continual 
blessing  of  Thy  grace;  grant  that  we  may 
pass  this  day  in  rest  and  peace,  and  to  the 
welfare  of  our  souls  and  bodies;  and  help 
151 


^he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

us  to  hallow  it  according  to  Thy  holy  will; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

Monday 

Most  holy  and  merciful  Father,  we 
acknowledge  and  confess  in  Thy  presence 
our  sinful  nature  prone  to  sin  and  slothful 
in  good,  and  all  our  shortcomings  and 
ofifenses  against  Thee.  Thou  alone  know- 
est  how  often  we  have  sinned,  in  wandering 
from  Thy  ways,  in  wasting  Thy  gifts,  in 
forgetting  Thy  love.  But  Thou,  O  Lord, 
have  pity  upon  us,  who  are  ashamed  and 
sorry  for  all  wherein  we  have  displeased 
Thee.  Teach  us  to  hate  our  errors,  cleanse 
us  from  our  secret  faults,  and  forgive  our 
sins,  for  the  sake  of  Thy  dear  Son  our  Sav- 
iour. And,  O  most  holy  and  loving  Fa- 
ther, send  Thy  purifying  grace  into  our 
hearts,  we  beseech  Thee,  that  we  may 
henceforth  live  in  Thy  light  and  walk  in 
Thy  love,  according  to  the  commandments 
of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 
152 


A  T'reasury  of  Devotion 

O  Lord,  our  heavenly  Father,  Who  art 
true  and  faithful  and  full  of  mercy,  look, 
we  pray  Thee,  upon  us  and  bless  us  with  all 
spiritual  benediction  and  grace.  Keep  us 
this  day  in  safety,  preserve  us  in  righteous- 
ness, increase  in  us  the  spirit  of  true  affec- 
tion, and  lead  us  into  life  eternal;  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen, 

Tuesday 

O  God,  most  holy,  wise  and  powerful 
Preserver  and  Governor  of  all  Thy  crea- 
tures and  all  their  actions;  keep  us  this 
day  in  health  of  body  and  soundness  of 
mind,  in  purity  of  heart  and  cheerfulness 
of  spirit,  in  contentment  with  our  lot  and 
charity  with  our  neighbor;  and  further  all 
our  lawful  undertakings  with  Thy  blessing. 
In  our  labor  strengthen  us,  in  our  pleasure 
purify  us,  in  our  difficulties  direct  us,  in 
our  perils  defend  us,  in  our  troubles  com- 
fort us,  and  supply  all  our  needs,  accord- 
153 


T'Jie  'Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

ing  to  the  riches  of  Thy  grace  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord.     Amen, 

O  Lord  our  heavenly  Father,  Who  re- 
mainest  faithful  throughout  all  genera- 
tions, just  in  Thy  judgments,  wonderful  in 
Thy  might  and  majesty,  full  of  tender- 
mercy  and  loving-kindness;  forgive  us  our 
faults,  our  injustices,  our  shortcomings,  our 
transgressions,  our  negligences  and  igno- 
rances ;  remember  not  our  sins  past,  but  this 
day  direct  our  steps  that  we  may  walk  in 
holiness  of  heart;  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.     Amen. 

Wednesday 

Provide  for  us,  O  most  merciful  Father, 
both  now  and  in  the  days  to  come,  those 
things  which  are  needful  for  our  welfare 
both  in  soul  and  body,  and  guide  us  by 
Thy  Word  and  Spirit  in  the  way  of  a  will- 
ing obedience  to  Thee.  Teach  us  ever  to 
look  unto  Thee  as  our  Master  and  Re- 
warder,  that  all  our  work  may  be  done  in 
154 


A  'treasury  of  Devotion 

Thy  service;  replenish  us  with  Thy  daily 
gifts,  that  we  may  not  lack  any  good  thing, 
and  keep  us  ever  in  a  humble  and  grateful 
mind,  that  we  may  live  peacefully  with  all 
men,  and  praise  Thee  by  well-doing,  ac- 
cording to  the  commandment  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

Blessed  Lord,  Who  didst  make  all  things 
for  our  good  and  Thy  service;  remember 
us  this  day  to  deliver  us  from  all  evil,  to 
prosper  us  in  our  work,  and  to  make  us 
perfect  in  Thy  love;  bless,  we  beseech  Thee, 
all  undertakings  for  the  benefit  of  men, 
sustain  with  Thine  enabling  grace  all  min- 
isters of  true  religion,  and  sanctify  Thy 
holy  Church  throughout  the  world ;  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

Thursday 

Grant   us,   O    Lord,   we   beseech   Thee, 
always  to  seek  Thy  kingdom  and  Thy  right- 
eousness; and  of  whatsoever  Thou  seest  us 
to   be    in    need,    mercifully   grant   us    an 
11  iss 


The  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

abundant  portion;  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.     Amen. 

Visit,  we  beseech  Thee,  most  gracious 
Father,  this  household  with  Thy  salvation; 
let  Thy  blessing  descend  and  rest  upon  all 
that  belong  to  us,  continue  and  preserve  us 
Thy  faithful  servants,  guide  us  with  Thy 
counsel  here,  and  bring  us  hereafter  to  Thy 
glory;  through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 
Amen, 

Friday 

O  most  merciful  Father,  Who  of  Thy 
lender  compassion  toward  us  guilty  sinners 
didst  give  Thine  only-begotten  Son  to  be  an 
offering  for  our  sins;  grant  us  grace,  we 
humbly  beseech  Thee,  that  being  united 
unto  Him  by  Thy  Spirit,  and  made  par- 
takers of  His  sufferings  and  His  death,  we 
may  crucify  the  corrupt  inclinations  of  the 
flesh,  die  daily  unto  the  world,  and  lead 
holy  and  unblamable  lives;  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.     Amen, 

156 


A   Treasury  of  Devotion 


O  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  Who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world,  deliver  us  this  day  from  the  temp- 
tations w^hich  beset  us ;  and  so  fill  our  hearts 
with  joy  and  gladness  that  we  may  abound 
in  all  good  works  and  deeds;  for  His  sake 
Who  gave  Himself  for  us,  Thy  Son  our 
Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.     Amen, 

Saturday 

O  God  of  love,  Giver  of  concord,  Who 
hast  sent  us  a  new  commandment,  through 
Thine  only-begotten  Son,  that  we  should 
love  one  another,  even  as  Thou  didst  love 
us  the  unworthy  and  wandering,  and  gavest 
Thy  Son  for  our  life  and  salvation ;  we  pray 
Thee,  Lord,  give  to  us  Thy  servants,  in  all 
time  of  our  life  on  earth,  a  mind  forgetful 
of  past  ill-will,  a  pure  conscience  and  sin- 
cere thoughts,  and  a  heart  to  love  our 
brethren;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. 

O  Lord,  merciful  and  mighty,  be  Thou 
157 


'T'he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

our  help  in  all  time  of  our  need;  comfort 
those  who  are  in  tribulation,  strengthen  the 
faint-hearted,  heal  the  sick,  remember  the 
poor;  enable  us  to  meet  the  difficulties  of 
this  day  with  victory;  in  His  name.  Who 
was  in  all  things  tempted  like  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin.  Thy  Son,  our  Sayio_u£  Jesus 
Christ.     Amen, 

In  addition  to  these  and  other  daily 
prayers,  there  are  two  spiritual  occasions 
for  which  special  devotions  should  be  pro- 
vided. One  of  these  is  the  time  of  prepa- 
ration for  being  received,  by  confirmation 
or  otherwise,  into  the  full  responsibility  and 
privilege  of  the  church.  What  is  needed 
is  realization  and  aspiration.  The  child 
should  realize  the  importance  and  the  sig- 
nificance of  that  which  he  is  about  to  under- 
take, and  should  honestly  and  earnestly 
aspire  to  grow  in  grace  and  in  the  knowl- 
edge and  the  love  of  God. 

Such  realization  is  had  by  considering 
attentively  what  is  implied  in  confirmation. 
ij8 


A   Treasury  of  Devotion 


It  is  expressed  in  this  question:  "Do  ye 
here,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  of  this 
congregation,  renew  the  solemn  promise 
and  vow  that  ye  made,  or  that  was  made  in 
your  name,  at  your  Baptism;  ratifying  and 
confirming  the  same;  and  acknowledging 
yourselves  bound  to  believe  and  to  do  all 
those  things  which  ye  then  undertook,  or 
your  Sponsors  then  undertook  for  you?" 
The  baptismal  obligation,  thus  renewed, 
concerns  renunciation,  faith  and  obedience. 
*'Dost  thou  renounce  the  devil  and  all  his 
works,  the  vain  pomp  and  glory  of  the 
world,  with  all  covetous  desires  of  the  same, 
and  the  sinful  desires  of  the  flesh,  so  that 
thou  wilt  not  follow  nor  be  led  by  them? 
Dost  thou  believe  all  the  Articles  of  the 
Christian  Faith,  as  they  are  contained  in 
the  Apostles'  Creed?  Wilt  thou  obedi- 
ently keep  God's  holy  will  and  command- 
ments, and  walk  in  the  same  all  the  days 
of  thy  life?"  The  implications  of  these 
promises  in  detail  will  be  made  clear  to  the 
159 


T'he  T" raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

child  in  the  instructions,  at  home  and  in 
church,  which  will  constitute  his  prepara- 
tion. He  will  be  taught  what  is  meant  by 
the  renouncing  of  the  world,  of  the  flesh  and 
of  the  devil ;  what  is  the  significance  of  the 
Creed,  article  by  article;  and  what  is  the 
definite  application  of  each  of  the  Com- 
mandments. Such  prayers  as  follow  may 
accompany  these  instructions. 

Grant,  O  Lord,  that  I  may  not  be 
ashamed  to  confess  the  faith  of  Christ  cru- 
cified, and  manfully  to  fight  under  his  ban- 
ner against  sin,  the  world  and  the  devil; 
and  to  continue  Christ's  faithful  soldier  and 
servant  unto  my  life's  end. 

Defend,  O  Lord,  this  Thy  child  with 
Thy  heavenly  grace  that  I  may  continue 
Thine  for  ever,  and  daily  increase  in  Thy 
Holy  Spirit  more  and  more,  until  I  come 
unto  Thy  everlasting  kingdom. 

Let  Thy  fatherly  hand  ever  be  over  me, 
let  Thy  Holy  Spirit  ever  be  with  me,  and 
so  lead  me  in  the  knowledge  and  obedience 
i6q 


A  T'reasury  of  Devotion 


of  Thy  Word  that  in  the  end  I  may  obtain 
everlasting  life;  through  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord.     Amen, 

O  almighty  Lord,  and  everlasting  God, 
vouchsafe,  we  beseech  Thee,  to  direct,  sanc- 
tify and  govern  both  our  hearts  and  bodies, 
in  the  ways  of  Thy  laws  and  in  the  works 
of  Thy  commandments;  that  through  Thy 
most  mighty  protection,  both  here  and  ever, 
we  may  be  preserved  both  in  body  and  soul ; 
through  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 
Amen, 

O  Lord,  our  heavenly  Father,  to  Thee 
and  to  Thy  service  I  devote  myself,  body 
and  mind  and  soul  and  strength;  help  me 
truly  to  know  what  Thou  wouldest  have  me 
to  believe  and  do,  and  give  me  grace  and 
power  faithfully  to  fulfill  the  same;  forgive 
me  for  my  besetting  sins  and  help  me  to 
gain  the  mastery  over  them;  help  me  to 
make  right  resolutions  and  to  keep  them; 
and  thus  to  be  a  loyal  disciple  of  Him 
Whom  I  would  love  and  follow  ever  more 
i6i 


l!he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

^■^— 

and  more,  Thy  Son,  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ.     Amen. 

By  such  prayers  as  these,  realization  is 
led  on  into  aspiration. 

The  second  spiritual  occasion  follows 
naturally  after  this  public  confirmation  of 
the  baptismal  vows.  The  child  comes  to 
the  Holy  Communion.  And  this  is  there- 
after to  be  an  habitual  part  of  the  religious 
life.  It  is  to  be  a  refreshment  and  spirit- 
ual assistance  and  divine  blessing  contin- 
ually repeated.  But  the  blessing  waits 
upon  the  child's  receiving,  and  is  inev- 
itably measured  by  it.  That  is  God's  way. 
He  gives  as  much  as  we  will  take.  Accord- 
ingly, it  is  of  great  importance  that  the  child 
shall  come  to  this  sacrament,  as  he  comes 
to  the  confirmation  which  precedes  it,  with 
both  realization  and  aspiration;  knowing 
in  what  spirit  he  should  come  in  order  to 
be  blessed  of  God,  and  with  all  his  heart 
desiring  thus  to  come.)  The  spirit  is  de- 
fined in  an  ancient  question  and  answer. 
162 


A   T'reasury  of  Devotion 

"What  is  required  of  those  that  come  to  the 
Lord's  Supper?  To  examine  themselves, 
whether  they  repent  them  truly  of  their  for- 
mer sins,  steadfastly  purposing  to  lead  a  new 
life;  have  a  lively  faith  in  God's  mercy 
through  Christ,  with  a  thankful  remem- 
brance of  His  death ;  and  be  in  charity  with 
all  men." 

Thus  the  child  is  to  examine  himself. 
Do  I  repent  me  truly  of  my  former  sins? 
What  are  these  sins  in  thought,  in  word,  in 
deed,  measured  by  the  Commandments, 
measured  by  the  Beatitudes?  What  am  I 
doing  against  the  will  of  God?  What  am 
I  leaving  undone?  Am  I  honestly  desirous 
to  be  better?  And  as  to  my  faith:  do  I 
remember  the  death  of  Christ  with  thanks- 
giving for  His  love  and  sacrifice  for  me? 
Am  I  loyal  to  Him,  as  a  soldier  is  loyal  to 
his  captain,  or  as  a  knight  was  loyal  to  his 
quest?  And  am  I  in  charity  with  all?  Is 
there  anyone  towards  whom  I  have  a  heart 
of  hatred?     Am   I   honestly   endeavoring, 

163 


^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

though  under  difficulty,  to  be  forgiving? 
Am  I  making  the  place  where  I  live  more 
pleasant  because  I  live  there?  Am  I  of 
use  in  the  world,  ministering  to  the  needs 
of  others? 

Then  self-examination  rises  into  peti- 
tion. In  the  spirit  of  penitence  and 
aspiration,  the  child  approaches  his  heav- 
enly Father. 

O  Blessed  Jesus,  Who,  for  our  sins,  didst 
pour  out  Thy  blood  on  the  cross;  give  me 
grace  never  to  forget  Thy  tender  love  to- 
wards us,  and  grant  that  what  Thou  wast 
then  content  to  endure  for  us  men  and  for 
our  salvation,  may  be  effectual  to  the  saving 
of  our  souls.  O  Thou,  who  didst  vouch- 
safe to  take  death  for  the  sins  of  every  man, 
mortify  in  me  all  things  that  are  contrary 
to  Thy  holy  will,  that  I  may  be  cruci- 
fied unto  the  world  and  live  only  unto 
Thee,  Who,  with  the  Father  and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  art  one  God,  world  without 
end.     Amen, 

164 


A  T^reasury  of  Devotion 


O  almighty  God,  Who  dost  put  into  our 
minds  good  desires  and  dost  give  us  grace 
and  strength  to  bring  them  to  good  effect; 
help  me  in  my  weakness  and  failure  and 
penitence  with  Thy  mighty  power;  enable 
me  now  to  begin  again  another  and  better 
life,  wherein  by  thought  and  word  and  deed 
I  may  please  Thee;  and  fill  my  heart  anew 
with  love  for  Thee  and  for  all  men ;  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 

Here,  O  Lord,  I  offer  and  present  unto 
Thee  myself,  my  soul  and  body,  to  be  a 
reasonable,  holy  and  living  sacrifice  unto 
Thee.  Grant  that  I  may  worthily  receive 
the  most  precious  Body  and  Blood  of  Thy 
Son  Jesus  Christ,  be  filled  with  Thy  grace 
and  heavenly  benediction,  and  made  one 
body  with  Him,  that  He  may  dwell  in  me 
and  I  in  Him;  to  Whom  be  all  honor  and 
glory,  world  without  end.     Amen. 

Assist  us  mercifully,  O  Lord,  in  these  our 
supplications  and  prayers,  and  dispose  the 
way  of  Thy  servants  towards  the  attainment 
165 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

of  everlasting  salvation ;  that  among  all  the 
changes  and  chances  of  this  mortal  life  we 
may  ever  be  defended  by  Thy  gracious  and 
ready  help ;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen, 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  BIBLE  AND  THE  CHILDREN 

IDE  by  side  with  the  prayers  of  the 
children  will  go  a  reading  of  the 
Bible.  Because  the  Bible  has  been 
proved  by  long  and  abundant  experience  to 
be  the  supreme  book  of  religion.  There  is 
nothing  else  like  it  in  the  literature  of  the 
race.  And  its  superiority  to  all  other  books 
is  not  only  on  the  side  of  theology,  in  its  rev- 
elation of  God,  but  on  the  side  of  emotion 
and  of  conduct,  in  its  actual  influence  on 
life.  That  is,  it  exceeds  all  other  reading 
in  its  relation  to  the  determining  purpose 
of  all  our  training  of  our  children  in  re- 
ligion,— the  purpose  to  help  them  to  be 
good.  We  look  anxiously  about  for  assist- 
ance in  our  great  task,  seeking  whatever  we 
may  best  bring  to  bear  upon  our  sons  and 
167 


T^he  'Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

daughters  for  the  moulding  of  their  lives, 
and  an  innumerable  chorus  of  voices  assures 
us,  on  the  basis  of  experience,  that  the  most 
potent  of  assisting  influences  is  between 
these  covers. 

The  fact  that  the  covers  are  flexible,  and 
the  edges  gilded,  and  that  almost  every  sen- 
tence of  the  book  is  printed  in  a  paragraph 
by  itself  and  numbered  hinders  children 
nowadays, — and  their  parents  also, — from 
getting  all  the  inspiration  which  the  Bible 
contains.  For  these  unusual  conditions  dis- 
tract the  eye  and  interrupt  the  mind. 
Moreover,  the  printer  and  the  binder  set 
the  Bible  artificially  apart  from  other 
books,  in  such  a  way  that  while  we  may  take 
it  up  with  expectations  of  spiritual  profit, 
we  do  not  readily  open  it  with  expectations 
of  human  interest.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  books  in  the  world,  but  many 
people  never  find  this  out  beneath  these 
typographical  disguises.  When  Robert 
Stephens,  in  1551,  occupied  himself  during 
168 


^he  Bible  and  the  Children 

a  tiresome  journey  from  Lyons  to  Paris  in 
dividing  the  Bible  into  verses,  his  intention 
was  to  make  it  convenient  for  reference. 
The  religious  world  was  filled  with  contro- 
versy, and  the  common  quarry  out  of  which 
to  get  materials  for  debate  was  the  Bible. 
Everything  was  decided  by  citation  of  texts. 
Stephens,  in  his  laborious  numbering,  was 
thinking  of  the  debates.  He  was -making 
things  easy  for  preachers,  for  students,  and 
for  theologians.  He  never  thought  of  the 
ordinary  reader.  In  consequence,  the 
Bible,  as  he  arranged  it  for  us  on  that  dusty 
journey,  is  a  book  for  the  desks  of  scholars. 
It  is  an  array  of  numbered  texts. 

The  Revised  Version  helps  us  out  a  little 
by  assembling  the  numbered  texts  in  para- 
graphs. But  the  intrusive  numbers  remain, 
and  the  page  is  still  unlike  the  pages  of  the 
books  which  we  are  accustomed  to  read  for 
pleasure.  The  two  columns  have  a  forbid- 
ding look.  The  Bible  is  still  a  commen- 
tator's text-book,  made  for  men  whose  sen- 
169 


T^he  T^raming  of  Childrcfj  in  Relic/2072 

tences  end  with  such  expressions  as 
"II  Sam.  VI,  18,"  or  ''I  Cor.  vili,  12."  It 
is  still  related  to  the  real  Bible  as  the  school 
Homer  and  the  school  Virgil  are  related  to 
the  splendid  poems  which,  after  school,  we 
read  for  the  new  joy  of  reading  them,  with 
a  sense  of  discovery.  One  of  the  first 
things,  then,  for  the  judicious  parent  to  do 
for  the  growing  child,  who  is  old  enough  to 
begin  to  read  the  Bible  by  himself,  is  to  get 
him  a  Bible  which  is  printed  not  for  stu- 
dents but  for  simple  readers.  "Everyman's 
Library,"  for  example,  provides  such  a 
Bible  in  five  small  volumes,  each  costing 
thirty-five  cents,  bound  like  other  books, 
and  printed  like  other  books.  Such  an  edi- 
tion brings  into  the  reading  a  new  element 
of  interest. 

A  much  more  serious  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  teaching  the  Bible  to  children  is 
presented  by  a  common  confusion  of  mind 
regarding  the  nature  of  the  book.  To  our 
ancestors,  the  Bible  was  a  single  book,  of 
170 


The  Bible  and  the  Children 

practically  uniform  value,  openable  any- 
where with  profit  to  the  reader,  because 
wherever  opened  it  disclosed  the  mind  and 
will  of  God.  There  was  no  doubt  about  it. 
Under  these  conditions,  the  mere  reading 
of  the  Bible,  even  without  much  under- 
standing, was  a  means  of  grace.  Something 
was  conveyed  from  the  sacred  page  into  the 
soul.  It  is  true  that  the  details  of  ancient 
and  obsolete  ritual  in  Leviticus,  and  the  lists 
of  proper  names  in  Genesis  and  Chronicles, 
brought  no  definite  spiritual  message,  but  it 
did  people  good  to  read  them.  They  were 
at  least  the  symbols  of  a  divine  care  for  men. 
The  reverent  reader  saw  God  between  the 
lines.  His  soul  was  benefited  without  in- 
tellectual analysis  or  comprehension,  like 
the  soul  of  one  who  worships  through  the 
medium  of  a  service  whose  language  he  is 
not  able  to  translate,  or  who  listens  with 
spiritual  satisfaction  to  a  sermon  which  he 
does  not  attempt  to  understand.  That 
which  is  essential  to  the  blessing  in  these 
13  171 


'T'he  'T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

cases  is  the  attitude  of  expectancy.  And 
that  depends  upon  a  certain  sense  of  sacred- 
ness. 

When  this  sense  of  the  invariable  sacred- 
ness  of  the  Bible  was  interrupted  by  the 
critics,  a  change  immediately  began.  The 
critics  said  that  there  are  errors  in  the 
Bible;  at  first,  in  the  geology  of  the  first 
chapters  of  Genesis ;  then  in  the  history  con- 
tained in  Kings  and  Chronicles,  where 
numbers,  facts  and  motives  seemed  to  differ 
in  parallel  records;  then  in  morals,  as  in 
the  praise  given  to  the  murder  of  Sisera  by 
Jael,  and  the  hewing  of  Agag  in  pieces 
by  Samuel;  at  last,  even  in  theology,  when 
the  idea  of  God  walking  in  Eden  under  the 
trees  of  the  orchard  was  contrasted  with  the 
conception  of  God  as  invisible  and  infinite, 
and  compared  with  the  statement,  ''No  man 
hath  seen  God  at  any  time."  The  Bible 
said  that  Moses  and  other  men  saw  God. 
Then  the  whole  question  of  the  miraculous 
was  raised  for  discussion.  Doubt  was  cast 
172 


^he  Bible  and  the  Children 

upon  the  story  of  the  adventures  of  Jonah, 
and  upon  the  speech  of  Balaam's  ass,  and 
gradually  upon  the  marvels  wrought  by 
Moses  and  by  Elijah  and  Elisha;  until 
finally  the  dark  shadov^  of  the  eclipse  of 
faith  touched  even  the  New^  Testament. 

In  these  hard  circumstances,  people  knew 
not  how  to  answer  their  own  questions,  and 
were  at  a  still  greater  difficulty  in  the  en- 
deavor to  answer  the  questions  of  their  chil- 
dren. They  were  afraid  to  say  aloud  what 
they  thought  in  the  secret  places  of  their 
minds.  At  the  same  time,  they  hated  to 
tell  lies.  They  shrank  from  imposing  on 
the  acceptance  of  their  children  that  which 
they  were  no  longer  able  to  accept.  But 
they  feared  lest  a  disillusionizing  of  their 
children  should  be  followed  on  their  part 
by  a  rejection  of  religion.  They  had  more 
or  less  consciously  based  religion  upon  the 
infallibility  of  the  Bible,  and  when  they 
found  themselves  unable  to  maintain  that 
the  Bible  is  infallible,  they  felt  as  men  have 
173 


l^he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

done  in  Holland  when  they  discovered  that 
the  sea  was  leaking  through  the  dikes. 

Thus  the  old  mystic  value  of  the  mere  act 
of  reading  the  Bible, — ^\vhich  gave  even  to 
the  syllables  of  ^'Melchizedek"  and  ''Meso- 
potamia" a  certain  power  to  rest  tired  peo- 
ple and  to  console  the  sorrowful, — grew 
dim  or  faded  away.  The  Bible  was  no 
longer  put  with  the  same  confidence  into 
the  hands  of  youth.  Fathers  and  mothers, 
whose  own  parents  had  read  the  Bible  to 
them,  did  not  read  it  to  their  children,  be- 
cause they  did  not  know  how  to  answer  the 
inevitable  questions.  The  Sunday-schools 
continued  to  evade  some  of  the  difficulties 
by  taking  away  the  Bible  and  giving  the 
children  in  the  place  of  it  judicious  selec- 
tions from  the  Bible  printed  on  "leaflets." 
But  this  was  but  a  temporary  and  unsatis- 
fying expedient. 

The  result  of  these  conditions  was  a 
whole  generation  of  children,  who  are  now 
in  their  turn  fathers  and  mothers,  who  were 
174 


T^he  Bible  and  the  Children 

not  made  acquainted  with  the  Bible  in  any 
thorough  way.  Of  course,  there  were 
happy  exceptions.  But  on  the  whole,  when 
one  considers  to-day  the  instruction  of  chil- 
dren in  the  Bible,  this  is  the  common  situ- 
ation. The  fathers  and  mothers  do  not 
know  much  about  the  Bible.  At  the  same 
time,  there  is  a  notable  revival  of  interest 
in  the  Bible.  The  college  students  whose 
ignorance  was  the  amazement,  the  amuse- 
ment and  the  despair  of  their  teachers,  have 
given  place  to  others,  their  successors,  who 
are  reading  and  studying  the  Scriptures  in 
unprecedented  numbers.  The  voluntary 
classes  in  this  subject  in  all  the  colleges  are 
a  significant  symbol  of  a  great  change. 
Thus  side  by  side  with  parents  who  do  not 
feel  themselves  qualified  to  teach,  are  chil- 
dren who  desire  to  learn.  No  generation 
of  parents  has  ever  been  in  more  urgent  and 
recognized  need  of  aid  in  this  great  matter. 
Under  these  conditions,  the  initial  neces- 
sity is  a  clarifying  of  the  mind  as  to  the 
175 


T'he  T^'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

nature  of  the  Bible.  First,  as  to  the  ques- 
tion of  inerrancy.  There  is  no  such  thing. 
Not  only  is  it  true  that  "to  err  is  human," 
but  error  is  a  universal  and  unescapable 
quality  of  human  thought  and  language. 
We  cannot  evade  it.  Truth  remains,  and 
is  attainable;  but  it  is  always  approximate, 
never  complete  and  adequate.  Accuracy 
remains;  but  its  province  is  in  the  world  of 
mathematics  and  of  physical  science;  anH 
even  here  it  is  often  more  apparent  than 
real.  For  example,  there  is  no  possibility 
of  giving  an  exhaustive  and  final  descrip- 
tion of  a  hill  or  of  a  tree.  Our  knowledge 
does  not  go  far  enough.  After  all  is  said 
and  verified  and  set  down,  matter  remains 
a  mystery  and  life  remains  a  mystery. 

When  we  proceed  to  the  field  of  human 
nature,  our  fallibility  becomes  more  evi- 
dent. There  is  no  possibility  of  knowing 
all  about  any  battle,  or  any  adventure  or 
discovery,  or  any  motive,  or  any  man. 
When  the  writers  of  Kings  say  that  David 
176 


T^he  Bible  and  the  Children 

was  moved  to  number  the  people  by  the 
word  of  God,  and  the  writers  of  Chronicles 
say  that  he  was  moved  to  take  that  census 
by  the  suggestion  of  Satan,  they  illustrate 
that  mixture  of  good  and  bad  which  enters 
into  the  whole  of  human  life.  History  is 
thus  a  record  of  events  which  can  never  be 
fully  recorded,  and  an  interpretation  of 
motives  which  can  never  be  fully  under- 
stood. The  factor  of  human  nature  in  his- 
tory is  like  the  factor  of  infinity  in  alge- 
braic formulas:  it  forbids  the  attainment 
of  complete  and  precise  results. 

Then  when  we  go  on  from  our  accounts 
of  the  thoughts  and  activities  of  men  to 
speak  of  the  works  of  God,  the  truth  is 
plainly  beyond  the  range  of  understanding. 
Our  words  are  ^^thrown  out,"  as  the  phrase 
is,  towards  inconceivable  realities.  Our 
statements  are  made  under  the  limitations 
of  our  constitutional  ignorance.  All  divin- 
ity has  two  sides,  a  nearer  and  a  farther; 
a  nearer  side  concerning  which  we  may  get 
177 


T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

some  definite, — though,  even  then,  imper- 
fect,— idea;  and  a  farther  side  which  is  be- 
yond the  focus  of  the  most  far-seeing  mind. 
A  system  of  theology  which  is  comprehen- 
sive and  complete,  which  explains  every- 
thing,- and  brings  the  world  and  man  and 
God  into  final  definitions,  is  shown  by  its 
very  perfection  to  be  mistaken.  Such  a 
process  is  impossible  with  our  abilities  and 
our  materials.  The  most  elaborate  defini- 
tions of  the  most  learned  theologians  are 
like  a  child's  explanation  of  the  conduct  of 
his  father's  business.  We  attain  truth,  but 
always  mixed  with  error.  Our  truth  is 
practical,  rather  than  absolute:  it  is  true  for 
us,  and  enough  for  us  to  live  by,  but  it  is 
only  true  in  part  for  God. 

Under  these  limitations  all  history  and 
all  theology  are  written;  both  outside  and 
inside  the  Bible.  Even  the  Mormon  the- 
ory of  a  discovered  Bible,  dug  up  out  of  a 
hill  where  the  angels  of  God  buried  it,  even 
the    Mohammedan    theory    of    a    dictated 

178 


T^he  Bible  and  the  Children 

Bible,  written  by  one  who  without  discre- 
tion set  down  what  was  communicated  to 
him  in  heaven,  would  leave  abundant  room 
for  error.  For  a  book  to  be  effectively  in- 
errant  must  have  an  inerrant  reader.  Even 
such  Bibles  would  not  escape  the  touch  of 
error,  for  they  would  be  exposed  to  all  our 
mistakes  of  interpretation.  As  we  read 
them,  our  human  limitations  would  affect 
our  understanding.  One,  indeed,  did  live 
who  could  truly  say  of  God,  ''I  know 
Him" ;  but  the  gospels  record  the  misunder- 
standings of  His  nearest  disciples.  He  said 
at  the  very  end  of  His  ministry,  "Have  I 
been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet  hast 
thou  not  known  Me?"  They  did  their  best, 
and  the  four  biographers  who  tell  us  about 
them  and  about  Him,  did  their  best.  But 
it  was  an  imperfect  best.  It  had  to  be,  in 
the  nature  of  things.  Their  very  language 
was  of  necessity  inadequate  and  inaccurate 
for  the  statement  of  divine  truth.  And 
their  experience  was  too  limited,  their 
179 


T^he  T^raining  of  Cliildren  in  Religion 

minds  too  small,  their  power  of  appreciation 
too  weak,  to  grasp  the  fullness  of  the  truth. 

The  dismay  and  unrest  which  followed 
the  perception  of  this  obvious  fact  about  the 
Bible  were  caused  by  the  necessity  thus  pre- 
sented to  give  up  a  theory  which  had  long 
prevailed.  So  urgent  had  been  the  teach- 
ers of  this  theory  that  it  was  gravely  de- 
clared and  accepted  that  any  kind  of  error 
anywhere  from  Genesis  to  Revelation  would 
destroy  the  authority  of  the  whole  long 
series  of  sacred  books.  If  an  historian  in 
the  book  of  Judges  mistook  the  number  of 
men  killed  in  a  skirmish,  and  could  be  con- 
victed of  his  error,  the  visions  of  Isaiah 
and  the  doctrines  of  St.  Paul  were  thereby 
invalidated.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  dis- 
covery of  an  error  was  fatal  only  to  the 
theory  of  inerrancy. 

Now  that  the  discovery  has  been  made, 

and  the  Bible  men  are  seen  to  be  liable  to 

mistakes  like  other  men,  the  result  is  simply 

to  establish  the  obvious  human  element  in 

i8o 


The  Bible  and  the  Children 

the  book.  As  for  its  authority,  it  is  no  more 
weakened  than  the  authority  of  science,  of 
history,  of  law,  or  of  experience.  None  of 
these  guides  of  thought  and  conduct  is  re- 
fused because  of  the  fact  of  error.  That 
is  taken  for  granted.  On  the  whole,  they 
bring  us  truth;  subject,  of  course,  to  their 
limitations  and  to  ours;  but  truth,  never- 
theless, according  to  which  we  may  direct 
our  believing  and  our  living.  So  with  the 
Bible. 

When,  therefore,  the  child  asks,  "Is  that 
true?"  the  teacher  of  the  Bible  may  answer 
with  all  frankness.  If  he  doubts  that  the 
historian  got  the  number  right  when  he  said 
that  Samson  with  the  jawbone  of  an  ass  slew 
a  thousand  men,  no  calamity  will  follow 
when  he  replies,  "I  think  not."  The  truth 
is  in  the  might  of  Samson,  not  in  the  details 
of  his  adventures.  And  the  same  principle 
holds  when  the  child  asks,  "Was  that 
right?"  Was  it  right  in  the  psalmist  to 
desire  to  wash  his  footsteps  in  the  blood  of 
i8i 


T'he  'T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

the  ungodly,  and  to  have  the  tongue  of  his 
dogs  red  through  the  same?  A  thousand 
times  No.  That  was  simply  as  far  as  they 
had  got  at  that  time  along  the  road  of  con- 
duct. To-day,  taught  as  we  are  by  wiser 
teachers,  even  by  Christ  Himself,  we  know 
better. 

What  becomes,  then,  of  the  old  ideas  of 
inspiration  and  of  revelation? 

They  remain  fundamentally  true.  They 
belong  still,  as  they  always  belonged,  to  the 
realms  of  mystery.  Some  change  of  state- 
ment has  resulted  from  beginning  the  study 
of  these  matters  with  a  different  question. 
Our  fathers  sometimes  began  by  asking^ 
^'In  what  way  would  God  be  likely  to  trans- 
mit and  to  safeguard  His  truth?"  The  re- 
ply to  this  question  defined  inspiration  and 
revelation  in  terms  of  the  divine  power. 
To-day  we  ask,  "How  are  we  to  understand 
inspiration  and  revelation  as  they  are  dis- 
closed in  the  writings  which  have  been  pro- 
duced under  these  conditions?"  That  iSj 
i82 


The  Bible  and  the  Children 

we  start  not  with  the  power  but  with  the 
product,  and  our  inquiry  is  concerned  to 
determine  not  what  God  might  have  done, 
but  what  God  actually  did.  Inspiration 
and  revelation  are  thus  the  influences  which 
result  in  such  a  book  as  this.  Instead  of 
beginning  with  the  divine  cause  and  decid- 
ing theoretically  what  the  effect  of  such  a 
cause  ought  to  be,  we  begin  with  the  effect 
itself  as  it  actually  is.  We  start  with  the 
facts  as  they  are. 

Approaching  the  matter  from  this  side, 
we  find  ourselves  less  disposed  than  for- 
merly to  put  our  doctrines  into  definitions. 
The  new  approach  increases  rather  than 
diminishes  the  mystery  in  which  the  making 
of  the  Bible  is  involved.  We  perceive, 
however,  that  instead  of  being  singularly 
and  separately  mysterious,  and  thus  out  of 
relation  with  the  rest  of  our  life,  the  Bible 
belongs  to  that  universal  environment  of 
mystery  out  of  which  every  great  achieve- 
ment comes.     Thus  we  define  inspiration 

183 


^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Keligion 

as  akin  to  genius,  and  revelation  as  akin  to 
discovery. 

Here  is  one  who,  by  the  grace  of  God,  is 
uncommonly  sensitive  to  certain  aspects  of 
the  world  about  him.  He  feels  more  than 
we  do,  and  hears  and  sees  more  than  we  do. 
He  is  singularly  aware  of  form  and  color, 
and  is  able  to  interpret  the  beauty  of  the 
world  in  works  of  art.  He  shows  us  won- 
ders which  we  did  not  know.  Or  he  is  sin- 
gularly appreciative  of  human  nature,  looks 
with  a  new  clearness  of  vision  into  the  souls 
of  men,  interprets  what  they  do  and  mean, 
and  tells  us  in  the  language  of  poetry.  Or 
he  has  the  gift  of  understanding  nature, 
of  perceiving  combinations  of  materials  and 
forces  which  have  never  been  combined 
before,  and  of  getting  results  which  con- 
tribute both  to  science  and  to  life.  These 
men  are  different  from  us.  When  we  en- 
deavor to  explain  them,  when  we  try  to 
account  for  the  unusual  ability  which  is  in 
them,  we  say  that  they  are  men  of  genius. 
184 


I'he  Bible  and  the  Children 

This  does  not  by  any  means  define  them. 
It  only  expresses  our  sense  of  the  mystery 
of  their  achievements.  When  we  take  this 
over  into  the  realm  of  religion,  we  perceive 
that  here  too  is  genius.  Here  are  men  who 
are  markedly  sensitive  to  the  unseen  and 
eternal,  who  see  with  altogether  uncommon 
plainness  the  subtle  difference  between 
right  and  wrong;  for  whom  the  bush  by  the 
road,  which  we  pass  without  looking  at  it, 
blazes  with  the  fire  of  God ;  who  are  aware 
of  God.  These  men  are  able  to  hear  the 
voice  of  God.  One  of  them,  with  a  group 
of  ordinary  persons,  being  on  the  way  to 
Damascus,  suddenly  sees  a  vision  in  the  sky 
and  receives  a  message  from  heaven;  the 
others,  being  ordinary  persons,  are  aware 
only  of  thunder  and  lightning.  This  sen- 
sitiveness and  receptiveness,  which  in  art 
and  letters  and  science  is  called  genius,  is 
in  religion  called  inspiration.  Men  thus 
inspired  wrote  the  Bible. 

Suddenly,  to  one  and  another  man  of 
i8s 


^he  Training  of  Children  in  Religion 

genius,  comes  the  discovery  of  something 
absolutely  new.  He  finds  a  new  force  or 
a  new  principle  or  a  new  law.  It  is  not 
the  conclusion  of  a  process  of  research  or 
of  reasoning,  though  these  are  in  relation 
with  it.  He  did  not  anticipate  it.  He 
had  no  idea  that  morning  that  any  great 
new  understanding  of  the  world  would  en- 
ter into  his  mind.  He  cannot  explain  it. 
Of  a  sudden,  as  by  a  voice  from  the  unseen, 
the  explanation  came.  It  flashed  upon 
him.  Thus  Newton  discovered  the  prin- 
ciple of  gravitation,  and  Darwin  discovered 
the  principle  of  evolution.  They  were  men 
of  genius,  and  thus  were  qualified  to  receive 
the  new  truth  when  it  came,  but  it  came  as 
mysteriously  as  a  miracle.  Then  they  took 
it  and  revolutionized  the  thought  of  the 
world.  In  religion,  this  is  called  revela- 
tion. Thus  to  Abraham,  in  the  Bible, 
came  a  new  consciousness  of  the  unity  of 
God,  and  to  Moses  a  new  consciousness  of 
the  will  of  God,  and  to  Hosea  a  new  con- 
i86 


T^he  Bible  and  the  Cliildren 

sciousness  of  the  love  of  God.  These  truths 
they  perceived  suddenly,  not  as  the  con- 
clusion of  an  argument.  They  did  not 
merely  conjecture  them;  they  knew  them. 
They  said  that  they  heard  God  speaking 
and  telling  them  these  things.  That  was 
their  manner  of  describing  an  experience 
which  was  indescribable.  Without  their 
will,  without  the  conscious  operation  of 
their  mind,  suddenly  they  were  in  posses- 
sion of  new  truth.  And  this  new  truth  they 
immediately  declared  to  other  men.  They 
were  appointed  the  messengers  of  God. 
They  preached  and  wrote  the  word  of  God. 
The  proclamation  and  application  of  such 
new  truth  constitutes  the  Bible. 

Inspiration  and  revelation,  thus  defined 
in  terms  of  genius  and  discovery,  retain  all 
their  ancient  mystery.  The  difference  is 
that  they  are  no  longer  separate  from  the 
conditions  of  our  life.  They  are  seen  to  be 
a  vital  part  of  God's  universal  dealing  with 
mankind. 

13  187 


T^'he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

As  for  the  miraculous,  which  presents  a 
further  difficulty  in  the  explanation  of  the 
Bible,  our  feeling  about  it  is  somewhat 
affected  by  a  change  of  emphasis.  Many 
people  used  to  think  of  God  as  remote  from 
the  world,  having  indeed  made  it  and  set 
it  going,  but  thereafter  entering  into  its 
affairs  mainly  by  the  medium  of  miracle. 
Miracle,  accordingly,  was  the  manifestation 
and  assurance  of  God.  Thus  the  minimiz- 
ing of  the  miraculous  was  an  attack  upon 
the  only  testimony  which  we  had  to  the 
divine  existence.  How  can  we  know  that 
God  is,  unless  He  exercises  His  unmistak- 
able will  in  our  behalf?  But  we  perceive 
now  that  the  will  of  God  in  our  behalf  is 
exercised  in  all  the  common  phenomena  of 
life.  God,  instead  of  being  detached  from 
the  world,  is  in  the  midst  of  it,  "in  Whom 
we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.'^ 
The  old  antithesis  between  God  and  Na- 
ture is  seen  to  be  untenable.  Nature  is  the 
order  and  custom  and  dependable  will  of 
i88 


'T'he  Bible  and  the  Children 

God.  God  is  manifested  all  the  time,  in 
all  the  world.  The  argument  for  God  is 
not  a  remote  and  ancient  miracle,  or  record 
of  miracles,  but  the  ever-acting  providence 
whose  revelation  is  the  world  itself.  The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  not  only 
and  not  chiefly  when  a  storm  breaks  awfully 
on  the  heights  of  Sinai,  but  when  the  sun 
shines  by  day  and  the  stars  by  night  over 
our  own  heads. 

We  are  no  longer  nervous,  then,  at  any 
questioning  of  the  reality  of  a  miracle.  We 
do  not  feel  that  we  must  maintain  the 
miraculous  character  of  the  event,  or  else 
lose  hold  on  the  reality  of  God.  We  are 
not  greatly  distressed  by  the  suggestion  that 
the  miracle  may  be  in  the  mind  of  the  re- 
corder rather  than  in  the  fact  itself:  he 
thought  he  saw  a  miracle,  and  said  so,  but 
another  explanation  is  possible.  When  the 
children  are  incredulous  about  the  swim- 
ming of  the  ax-head,  we  may  be  perfectly 
frank  in  our  reply.  If  we  doubt  that  the 
189 


'T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

ax-head  swam,  there  is  no  prudential  reason 
why  we  should  not  say  so. 

At  the  same  time,  there  are  two  things  to 
be  had  in  mind.  One  is  that  the  marvel- 
ous appeals  naturally  to  children,  and  does 
not  for  a  long  time  awaken  any  question. 
The  thing  to  do  is  to  tell  the  Bible  story 
as  it  is  told  in  the  Bible.  The  fact  that 
the  assertion  that  Joshua  made  the  sun  and 
moon  stand  still  is  a  quotation  from  a  book 
of  poetry,  and  is  to  be  understood  as  poetry, 
need  not  be  made  in  the  nursery.  There 
is  no  need  of  it.  That  comes  later.  At 
present,  let  the  courageous  captain  lift  his 
hand  to  heaven  and  stop  the  whole  machin- 
ery of  the  universe,  till  he  gets  the  victory 
over  his  enemies.     Why  not? 

The  other  thing  to  be  remembered  is  that 
the  miraculous  and  the  personality  of  God 
are  bound  up  together.  The  miraculous  is 
God's  immediate  dealing  with  human  life. 
They  erred,  indeed,  who  held  that  a  miracle 
is  a  violation  of  a  law  of  nature.  A  mir- 
190 


The  Bible  and  the  Children 

acle  is  a  divine  direction  of  a  law  of  nature 
for  our  individual  good.  Thus  at  the  Red 
Sea,  God  did  not  spread  out  a  magic  carpet 
and  upon  it  transport  the  host  of  Israel 
from  one  shore  to  the  other.  The  record 
says  that  He  used  a  strong  east  wind.  In 
a  miracle,  God's  will  enters  into  the  cus- 
tomary order  of  events  as  our  own  will  does 
when  we  summon  a  physician  to  minister 
to  the  sick. 

But  such  an  act  of  will  belongs  of  neces- 
sity to  our  conception  of  God  as  caring  for 
us  His  children.  We  assert  our  belief  in 
it  whenever  we  say  our  prayer.  The  idea 
of  a  purely  impersonal  and  universal  deal- 
ing of  God  with  men,  having  no  regard  for 
any  individual,  going  straight  on  with  the 
impartiality,  the  inexorable  certainty,  of  a 
law  of  nature,  careless  of  our  entreaties,  re- 
gardless of  our  needs  and  distresses,  is 
wholly  out  of  accord  with  the  fatherhood  of 
God  as  taught  by  Jesus  Christ.  Our  most 
reasonable  procedure,  then,  is  to  bring  the 
191 


T'he  T^raming  of  Children  in  Religion 

miracles  of  the  Bible  into  relation  with  our 
present  life;  as  is  now  easy  in  the  matter 
of  the  miracles  of  healing.  We  are  to 
maintain  that  God  is  as  near  to  the  world, 
and  as  concerned  with  our  affairs  as  He 
ever  was,  and  that  miracles  are  forever  hap- 
pening, in  the  lives  of  nations  and  of  indi- 
viduals. Only,  in  the  old  time,  they  per- 
ceived the  hand  of  God  more  clearly  than 
we  do.  They  went  straight  back  through 
the  minor  causes,  through  the  means  which 
God  used,  to  the  will  of  God  Himself.  We 
are  to  emphasize  the  naturalness  of  the 
supernatural.  We  are  to  assert  the  con- 
stant, helping  and  guiding  and  protecting 
presence  of  God  in  the  affairs  of  men,  both 
in  and  out  of  the  pages  of  the  Bible. 


CHAPTER   XI 
A  HOUSEHOLD  LECTIONARY 

CHE  difficulties  which  attend  the  in- 
struction of  children  in  the  Bible 
arise  not  only  from  the  nature  of 
the  book  but  from  the  variety  of  its  con- 
tents. Some  parents,  with  the  best  inten- 
tions, open  the  Bible  and  turn  the  pages  in 
this  direction  and  in  that,  and  are  uncertain 
what  to  read.  They  find  themselves  in  con- 
fusion. They  are  honestly  desirous  to 
make  their  children  acquainted  with  this 
supreme  book  of  the  Spirit,  but  they  do  not 
know  how  to  set  about  it.  The  result  is 
that  they  begin  somewhere  and  go  on,  either 
in  order  or  at  random,  for  a  few  days,  and 
then  stop.  For  in  the  carrying  out  of  this 
intention,  there  is  need  of  both  system 
and  intelligence.  We  want  a  lectionary, 
193 


T'he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religi 


ion 


wherein  shall  be  set  down  day  by  day,  and 
chapter  by  chapter,  the  most  fitting  and 
effective  readings. 

A  proper  preparation  for  any  course  of 
Bible  reading  with  young  children  is  a  book 
of  Bible  stories.  For  the  Bible  as  it  stands 
was  not  written  for  children.  Neither  the 
language  nor  the  thought  is  adapted  to  their 
understanding.  It  must  be  translated  into 
their  vocabulary,  and  must  be  simplified 
and  explained.  The  impulse  to  take  excep- 
tion to  this  statement  is  based  on  such  stories 
as  that  of  Joseph  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
of  the  Prodigal  Son  in  the  New,  which 
seem  to  defy  alteration.  It  is  true  that 
parts  of  the  Bible  may  be  read,  even  to 
young  children,  with  interest  and  profit. 
Such  passages,  however,  form  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  whole,  and  are  themselves 
made  more  real  by  some  comment  of  the 
reader.  Unless  we  are  careful,  we  shall 
find  that  the  ^'swine"  which  were  fed  by  the 
Prodigal  Son  are  regarded  by  the  child  as 
194 


A  Household  Lectionary 

a  species  of  sacred  animal  to  care  for 
which  was  a  kind  of  holy  privilege.  Only 
by  translation  does  he  associate  them  with 
the  pigs  of  the  sty.  The  greater  part  of 
the  Bible  needs  some  illumination  even  for 
grown  folks:  hence  the  commentaries,  the 
classes  and  the  sermon.  The  function  of  a 
book  of  Bible  stories  is  to  provide  such  in- 
terpretation for  little  boys  and  girls.^ 

When  the  child  comes  to  an  age  such  as 
invites  an  introduction  to  the  Bible  itself, — 
a  period  which  differs  greatly  among  dif- 
ferent children, — there  are  two  kinds  of 
occasions  for  which  provision  will  naturally 
be  made.  There  will  be  long  readings  for 
Sunday  afternoons,  and  there  will  be  short 
readings  for  daily  prayers  or  for  bedtime. 
There  will  also  be  a  selection  of  sentences 
and  passages  to  be  committed  to  memory. 

The  long  readings  may  be  taken  in  order 
from  some  edition  of  the  Bible  which  has 

iThe  writer  of  this  book  has  prepared  two  such  vol- 
umes:    The  Garden  of  Eden,  and  When  the  King  Came. 


T'he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

been  prepared  for  children;  such  as  the 
''Bible  for  Young  People,"  or  "The  Old, 
Old  Story  Book."  In  these  books  the  gene- 
alogies are  omitted,  duplicated  narratives 
are  combined,  and  passages  unsuitable  for 
the  reading  of  children  are  left  out.  Thus 
the  Bible  may  be  read  through,  taking  a 
year  to  it,  and  then  reading  it  again.  Or 
the  long  reading  may  be  the  Sunday-school 
lesson  for  the  following  Sunday,  read  and 
studied  by'  parents  and  children  together. 
Often,  the  lesson  books  or  papers  suggest 
short  readings  in  connection  with  the  Sun- 
day chapter,  which  may  be  used  day  by  day 
throughout  the  week. 

Or  else,  going  straight  to  the  Bible  with- 
out either  of  these  guides,  a  household  lec- 
tionary  may  be  constructed  according  to 
which  the  Scriptures  may  be  regularly 
read.  The  particular  plan  is  of  little  im- 
portance. The  necessary  thing  is  the  def- 
inite selection  and  adoption  of  some  plan, 
and  the  following  of  it  week  by  week. 
196 


A  Household  Lectionary 


In  the  making  of  a  domestic  lectionary, 
the  long  readings  will  naturally  be  taken 
from  the  narrative  portions  of  the  book. 
They  will  tell  the  great  stories  and  make 
the  boys  and  girls  acquainted  with  the  great 
people.  Such  selections  may  carry  the 
Bible  history  through  the  whole  year,  fol- 
lowing the  course  of  events  from  Abraham 
to  Paul.  In  that  case,  it  is  a  good  plan  to 
spend  half  of  the  year  in  reading  the  Old 
Testament,  and  the  other  half  in  reading 
the  New.  The  festivals  of  Christmas  and 
Easter,  marking  the  beginning  and  the  end 
of  our  Lord's  earthly  life,  make  the  winter 
and  spring  especially  appropriate  for  the 
New  Testament.  The  reading  may  begin 
on  a  Sunday  about  the  middle  of  Decem- 
ber, thus  leading  up  to  Christmas,  and  pre- 
paring the  children  to  enter  with  under- 
standing and  appreciation  into  the  meaning 
of  the  day.  Then  the  Old  Testament  may 
be  taken  in  the  summer. 

A  single  narrative,  in  two  books,  covers 
197 


T!'he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

the  whole  New  Testament  history.  St. 
Luke's  Gospel  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
are  by  the  same  writer,  as  the  dedications 
show.  This  narrative  may  be  taken  as  the 
connecting  document  of  a  course  of  read- 
ing. Six  months  may  profitably  be  spent 
in  reading  these  two  books  aloud  on  Sunday 
afternoons,  from  the  middle  of  December 
till  the  middle  of  May.  The  readings  in 
the  Gospel  may  be  profitably  accompanied, 
according  to  the  capacity  of  the  children, 
by  side  readings  from  the  other  gospels 
where  the  same  story  is  told  with  slight,  but 
often  very  significant  variations,  or  where 
new  matter  is  added.  And,  similarly,  the 
readings  in  the  Acts  may  be  illustrated  and 
enriched  by  passages  from  the  Epistles. 

It  is  important,  for  the  understanding  of 
children,  that  the  main  divisions  of  the  his- 
tory be  made  clear.  The  studying  of  short 
lessons  without  very  plain  connection,  and 
the  hearing  of  sermons  which  explain  texts 
without  much  interpretation  of  the  books 
198 


A  Household  Lectionary 


in  which  they  stand,  hide  from  many  chil- 
dren the  progress  of  the  New  Testament 
narrative.  Of  course,  an  obvious  division 
is  in  two  parts,  one  represented  by  the  Gos- 
pel, being  the  story  of  the  life  of  Christ, 
and  the  other  represented  by  the  Acts,  be- 
ing the  story  of  the  beginning  of  the 
Church.  But  each  of  these  has  its  distinct 
periods,  which  ought  to  be  recognized. 
Thus  the  life  of  Christ  is  in  four  parts, 
of  quite  unequal  length:  i,  The  Thirty 
Years;  2,  The  Ministry;  3,  The  Holy 
Week;  4,  The  Forty  Days.  And  the  Min- 
istry is  in  three  divisions  (following  here 
the  notes  of  time  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John) : 
I.  To  the  first  Passover,  a  period  of  about 
six  months,  mainly  in  Judaea;  2,  to  the 
second  Passover,  a  period  of  a  year,  mainly 
in  Capernaum  and  the  neighborhood;  3, 
to  the  third  Passover,  a  period  of  a  year, 
spent  in  wandering:,  outside  the  Holy  Land, 
north  and  east,  but  including  two  visits  to 
Jerusalem.  One  of  the  first  things  to  do 
199 


T'he  T'raini?2g  of  Children  in  Religion 

is  to  locate  these  main  landmarks.  Thus 
in  St.  Luke's  Gospel,  the  record  of  the 
Thirty  Years  is  in  the  first  two  chapters; 
the  Ministry  is  in  the  chapters  from  the 
third  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth;  the 
Holy  Week  is  described  in  the  chapters 
from  that  point  to  the  twenty-third;  the 
Forty  Days  are  recounted  in  the  twenty- 
fourth.  As  for  the  Ministry,  the  first 
period  is  in  chapters  third  and  fourth;  the 
second  period  in  chapters  fifth  to  the  mid- 
dle of  the  ninth;  the  third  period  from  the 
middle  of  the  ninth  to  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth. 

Also,  the  book  of  the  Acts  is  in  two  por- 
tions: I,  The  acts  of  St.  Peter  and  his  com- 
panions, in  the  chapters  from  the  first  to 
the  twelfth;  2,  The  acts  of  St.  Paul  and 
his  companions,  in  the  chapters  from  the 
thirteenth  to  the  end.  The  first  part  is  in 
three  divisions:  i,  Preparation,  including 
the  Ascension  and  the  Day  of  Pentecost, 
first  and  second  chapters;  2,  Contention, 
200 


A  Household  Lectionary 

from  the  excitement  caused  by  the  healing 
of  the  lame  man  to  the  persecution  which 
began  with  the  stoning  of  Stephen,  chapters 
third  to  seventh;  3,  Evangelization,  being 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  which  followed, 
in  Samaria  and  as  far  as  Caesarea,  chapters 
eighth  to  twelfth.  And  the  second  part  is 
in  two  parts:  i,  St.  Paul  the  missionary,  in 
Galatia,  Macedonia,  Achaia  and  Asia 
Minor,  chapters  thirteenth  to  the  middle 
of  the  twenty-first;  2,  St.  Paul  the  prisoner, 
including  his  arrest  at  Jerusalem,  and  im- 
prisonment in  Caesarea,  his  shipwreck,  and 
his  final  imprisonment  in  Rome,  in  the  re- 
maining chapters. 

A  similar  marking  of  the  main  divisions 
of  the  narrative  is  to  be  made  in  the  Old 
Testament.  First  comes  the  Era  of  the  Be- 
ginnings, from  Genesis  to  Ruth;  including 
the  patriarchs  from  Adam  to  Joseph,  Moses 
and  the  escape  of  the  people  out  of  Egypt, 
and  the  conquest  and  settlement  of  Canaan 
under  Joshua  and  the  Judges.  Then  fol- 
201 


T^he  "draining  of  Children  ifz  Religion 

lows  the  Era  of  the  Kings,  from  Samuel  to 
Chronicles;  first,  the  united  kingdom,  un- 
der Saul  and  David  and  Solomon;  then  the 
fortunes  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  until  the 
destruction  of  Samaria  by  the  Assyrians 
(II  Kings  17),  and  the  fortunes  of  the  king- 
dom of  Judah  until  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  the  Chaldeans  (II  Chronicles 
36).  The  history  ends  with  the  Era  of  the 
Foreign  Rulers,  in  Ezra  and  Nehemiah; 
including  the  exile  and  the  restoration. 
The  latter  portions  may  be  illuminated  by 
readings  from  the  prophets. 

Such  a  lectionary  for  Sunday  readings, 
following  these  divisions,  is  here  ofifered 
as  a  suggestion  for  domestic  use.  It  begins 
with  the  Life  of  Christ  and  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  arranged  for  half  a  year.  Then 
follows  the  Old  Testament  History  in  two 
parts,  each  for  a  half  year.  Thus,  the  New 
Testament  narrative  being  read  one  year, 
say  from  the  middle  of  December  till  the 
middle  of  May,  the  Old  Testament  would 
202 


A  Household  Lectionary 


be  taken  up  at  that  point  and  the  readings 
till  December  would  be  in  the  Era  of  the 
Beginnings.  The  next  year  the  Gospels  and 
the  Acts  would  be  read  over  again,  and  the 
Old  Testament  passages  would  be  taken 
from  the  Era  of  the  Kings  and  the  Era  of 
the  Foreign  Rulers.  Changes  will  of 
course  be  made  to  suit  the  needs  of  indi- 
vidual children ;  there  will  be  additions  and 
subtractions.  But  the  initial  necessity  is  to 
begin  with  something  detailed  and  definite. 
Such  a  plan  is  here  presented. 

The  Life  of  Christ 

I.  The  thirty  years.   Luke  i,  2.    (Matt.        [i 

I,  2.) 
II.  The  ministry. 

I.  First  period. 

(i)   The  baptism  and  tempta-       [2 
tion.         Luke      3:1-4:13. 
(Matt.     3:1-4:  II.     Mark 
1:1-13.) 
1(2)   The  first  disciples.     Luke        [3 
5:1-11.      (Matt.  4:  12-25. 
Mark  1 :  14-20.  John  1-4.) 
14  203 


^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

2.  Second  period. 

(i)The    ministry    of    mercy.        [4 
Luke    4:33-44;    5:  12-26; 
6 :  6-1 1 ;  7  :  1-17  ;  8  :  22-56. 
(Matt.  8,  9.     Mark  i:  20- 
2:  12;  3:  12.     John  5.) 

(2)  The     training      of     the        [5 
twelve.     Luke     6:12-19. 
(Matt.    10.      Mark   3:  13- 

19.) 

(3 )  The  sermon  on  the  mount.        [6 

Luke  6:  20-49.      (Matt.  5- 

7.) 

(4)  The  parables  of  the  king-        [7 

dom.  Luke  8:4-18.  (Matt. 
13.     Mark  4.) 

(5)  The  crisis  at  Capernaum.       [8 
Luke  9:7-17.      (Matt.  14: 
1-15  :  20.       Mark    6:  1-7: 

23.     John  6.) 

3.  Third  period. 

( 1 )  Among  the  Gentiles.  Luke       [9 
9:  18-45.      (Matt.   15:  21- 
17:23.  Mark  7:  24-9:  32.) 

(2)  In  Jerusalem.  John  7-10.     [10 

(3)  In  Peraea.     Luke  9:51-     [n 
17:  10.      (John  II.) 

(4)  The  last  journey.     Luke     [12 

204 


A  Household  Lectionary 


17:  11-19:  28.     (Matt.  19: 

3-20:  34.     Mark  10:  2-52. 

John  II :  55-12:  II.) 

III. 

The  Holy  Week.     Luke  19 :  29-23 : 
56.     (Matt.  21-27.     Mark 

[13 

' 

11-15.      John     12:  12-19: 

42.) 

IV. 

The  Forty  Days.     Luke   24,   with 
Acts  I.    (Matt.  28.    Mark 
16.     John  20,  21.) 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

[14 

I. 

St.  Peter  and  his  companions. 

I.  Preparation.     Acts  1-3. 

[IS 

2.  Contention.     4-7. 

[16 

3.  Evangelization.     8-12. 

[17 

II. 

St.  Paul  and  his  companions. 

I.  In  Galatla.     13-15.      (Gal.   i: 

[18 

11-2:  21.) 

2.  In    Macedonia.      16:1-17:15. 

[19 

(Phil.  4:  10-20.     I  Thes.  2: 
1-2. 

3.  In   Athens   and    Corinth.     17:     [20 

16-18;  17   (I  Cor.  2:1-5.) 

4.  In  Ephesus.      18:19-19:41.  [21 

5.  On  the  way  to  Jerusalem.     20:     [22 

1-21 :  17. 

6.  In  Jerusalem.      21:17-23:11.        [23 

205 


T'he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 


7. 

In  Cassarea.      23:12-26:32. 

[24 

8. 

The  Shipwreck.      27  :  1-28  :  10. 

[25 

9. 

In  Rome.     28:11-31  (II  Tim. 
4:6-18.) 

Old  Testament  History  (!) 

[26 

I.  The  Era  of  the  Beginnings. 

I. 

The  beginning  of  sin. 

( I )    The  Garden  of  Eden.  Gen. 

[I 

2:4-3:  24. 

(2)   The  Flood.     Gen.  6-8. 

[2 

2. 

The  beginning  of  salvation. 

(i)   The    call    of    Abraham. 

[3 

Gen.  12:  1-9;  13:  1-14. 

(  2  )   The  destruction  of  Sodom. 

[4 

Gen.  18,  19:  12-28. 

(3)    Ishmael  and  Isaac.     Gen, 

[5 

21 : 1-20; 22:  1-19. 

(4)   The  Wooing  of  Rebekah. 

[6 

Gen.  24. 

(5)    Jacob    and    Esau.     Gen. 

[7 

25  :  27-34;  Gen.  27  :  41 ;  28  : 

10-22;  29:  1-14. 

(6)   Jacob  and  Pharaoh.  Gen. 

[8 

37»  40,  41. 

(7)   Joseph  and  his  brethren. 

[9 

Gen.  42. 

206 


A  Household  Lectionary 


3.  The  deliverance  from  Egypt. 

(i)   The  call  of  Moses.     Ex.     [10 
1:8-3:12. 

(2)  The  plagues.     Ex.  5-10. 

(3)  The   Passover.     Ex.    11, 
12. 

(4)  The  crossing  of  the  Red 
Sea.     Ex.  14,  15. 

(5)  Bread    and    water.     Ex. 
15-17. 

(6)  The  Ten  Commandments. 
Ex.  19,  20. 

(7)  Balaam  and  Balak.  Num. 
22-24. 

4.  The  conquest  of  Canaan. 

( 1 )  The  fall  of  Jericho.     Jos. 
2,  3:  10-4:9,  6. 

(2)  The  sin  of  Achan.     Jos. 

7.  8. 

(3)  The  story  of  the  sun  and 
moon.     Jos.  9,   10. 

(4)  The  battle  of   the   river 
Kishon.     Jud.  4,  5. 

(5)  The  battle  of  the  lamps 
and  pitchers.     Jud.  6,  7. 

(6)  The     fable    of    Jotham. 
Jud.  9. 


207 


T'he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

(7)  Jephthah  and  his  daugh-      [23 
ter.     Jud.  II. 

(8)  The  exploits  of  Samson.      [24 
Jud.  13-16. 

(9)  The    migration   of   Dan.      [25 
Jud.  17,  18. 

'(10)   The      story      of      Ruth.      [26 
Ruth  1-4. 

Old  Testament  History   {II) 

II.  The  Era  of  the  Kings. 

I.  The   founding  of   the   Hebrew 
kingdom. 

( 1 )  Samuel  and  Saul. 

a.  The    call    of    Samuel.     I        [i 
Sam.  1-3. 

b.  The  journey  of  the  ark.     I        [2 
Sam.  4-6. 

c.  The  anointing  of  Saul.     I        [3 
Sam.  8-1 1. 

(2)  Saul  and  David. 

a.  David     and     Goliath.     I       [4 
Sam.  16,  17. 

b.  David    and   Jonathan.     I        [5 
Sam.  20,  21. 

c.  The   witch   of   Endor.     I       [6 
Sam.  28,  31. 

208 


A  Household  Lectionary 


d.  The  ark  brought  to  Jerusa-        [7 
lem.     II  Sam.  6,  7. 

e.  The  rebellion  of  Absalom.        [8 
II    Sam.    15; 1-17;    16: I- 

14;  18. 
(3)   The  reign  of  Solomon. 

a.  The  crowning  of  Solomon.        [9 
I  Kings  1:5-53- 

b.  The  wisdom  of  Solomon.      [10 
I  Kings  3,  4:29-34. 

c.  The  temple  of  Solomon.    I      [10 
Kings  5,  6. 

2.  The    division    of    the    Hebrew 
kingdom. 

( 1 )  The  revolution. 

a.  Jeroboam    the   patriot.     I      [12 
Kings  1 1  :  26-12  :  20. 

b.  The  prophet  and  the  lion.      [13 

I  Kings  13. 

(2)  Prophets  and  kings  of  Is- 
rael. 

a.  Elijah  and  the  drought.    I      [14 
Kings  17,  18,  19. 

b.  Elijah  and  Naboth's  vine-      [15 
yard.     I  Kings  21. 

c.  The    ministry    of    Elisha.      [16 

II  Kings  2:1-14,   5,   6:24 

-7- 

209 


T^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

d.  The  rebellion  of  Jehu.     II      [17 
Kings  9:  i-io:  28. 

e.  The     mission    of    Jonah.      [18 
Jonah  1-4. 

(3 )    Prophets  and  Kings  of  Ju- 
dah. 

a.  The  tragedy  of  Athaliah.     [19 
II  Kings  II,  12. 

b.  The  Assyrian  invasion.    II     [20 
Kings  18,  19. 

c.  Josiah    the    reformer.     II      [21 
Kings  22,  23. 

d.  The  protests  of  Jeremiah.     [22 
Jer.  36-38. 

3.  The  destruction  of  the  Hebrew     [23 
kingdom.     II   Kings   17:1-8; 
24,  25. 
III.  The  Era  of  the  Foreign  Rulers. 

1.  The  constancy  of  Daniel.     Dan.     [24 

3-6. 

2.  The  story  of  Esther.     Esther  i-     [25 

10. 

3.  The  return  from  exile.     Neh.  2-     [26 

4,  6. 

The  purpose  of  these  long  readings  is  to 
give  children  some  knov^ledge  of  that  his- 
tory which  lies  back  of  all  our  literature 
210 


A  Household  Lectioizary 

and  is  taken  for  granted  in  sermons  I'hey 
are  to  be  made  familiar  with  the  courage 
of  pioneers  and  captains,  with  the  general 
course  of  events,  with  the  constancy  of  mar- 
tyrs. In  the  earlier  years,  the  chapters  may 
be  read  without  much  comment,  except  such 
as  is  suggested  by  the  questions  of  the  chil- 
dren. It  is  well,  however,  even  then,  to 
make  the  progress  plain,  as  in  the  English 
and  American  history  which  they  are  study- 
ing at  school.  It  is  well,  also,  to  keep  them 
in  mind  of  the  fact  that  the  difference  be- 
tween those  old  times  and  our  own  is  not 
scLmuch  in  the  events  as  in  the  description 
ofjhe  events.  God  is  quite  as  near  to-day 
toall  the  nations  of  the  earth  as  He  was 
to  the  people  oi  Israel;  but  our  modern  his- 
tories are  not  so  devoutly  written.  If  the 
chroniclers  who  wrote  about  the  kings  of 
Judah  could  write  now  about  the  Presidents, 
of  the  United  States,  they  would  do  it  in 
the  same  way.  They  would  perceive  the 
constant  presence  of  God. 

211 


T'he  draining  of  Childre?2  in  Religion 

When  the  time  of  serious  questioning 
comes,  there  will  be  need  of  patience,  of 
humility,  of  honesty  and  of  reverence.  By 
reverence  I  mean  a  certain  refinement  of 
nature  and  appraisal  of  spiritual  values 
which  will  deter  parents  from  telling  stories 
of  the  queer  things  which  children  say.  It 
may  be  unnecessary  to  set  up  a  fast  rule  of 
silence  in  these  matters,  but  there  should  be 
a  sense  of  sacred  confidence  between  the 
parent  and  the  child  which  will  take  most 
of  these  anecdotes  out  of  ordinary  conver- 
sation. By  honesty  I  mean  that  the  parents 
should  be  loyal  to  their  own  convictions  and 
unscared  by  the  truth.  If  they  believe  that 
the  narrative  of  the  speaking  serpent  in  the 
garden  of  innocence  is  a  story  rather  than 
a  history,  and  belongs  to  poetry  and  theol- 
ogy rather  than  to  scientific  accounts  of  the 
habits  of  serpents,  why  not  say  so?  When 
the  child  asks,  ''Is  it  true?"  the  best  answer 
may  be,  "Yes,  it  is  true;  but  as  the  parable 
of  the  Good  Samaritan  is  true.    The  par- 

212 


A  Household  Lectionary 

able  of  the  Good  Samaritan  is  probably  not 
a  description  of  an  historical  event,  but  a 
story  told  to  teach  a  great  lesson.  That  is 
its  meaning  and  its  value.  The  story  of  the 
Garden  of  Eden  teaches  that  sin  came  into 
the  world  by  man's  disobedience.  And  that 
is  true  absolutely."  Such  questioning  as 
this,  however,  does  not  readily  occur  to 
young  children.  To  them,  the  world  is 
filled  with  wonder,  all  things  are  possible, 
anything  may  happen.  Out  of  this  stage  of 
intellectual  progress  they  come  by  slow  and 
normal  processes  into  some  understanding 
of  the  regularity  of  the  universe.  There  is 
no  gain  in  hastening  this  change,  or  in  ex- 
plaining difficulties  before  they  actually 
arise.  Commonly,  the  child  will  attend  to 
all  that  himself. 

To  other  qualities,  even  of  domestic  in- 
struction, may  properly  be  added  some 
measure  of  scholarship.  There  can  hardly 
be  much  effective  teaching  without  some 
studying.  For  a  single  comprehensive 
213 


T^he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

book,  nothing  is  better  than  the  one-volume 
edition  of  Hastings'  Bible  Dictionary 
(Charles  Scribner's  Sons).  Of  course,  the 
five-volume  edition  is  better,  but  this  will 
suffice  in  most  families  for  the  history,  the 
geography,  and  the  general  interpretation 
of  the  Bible. 

The  shorter  readings,  such  as  may  be  used 
at  family  prayers,  or  daily  read  by  the  child 
out  of  his  own  book,  will  be  for  the  purpose 
of  admonition  and  inspiration.  The  guid- 
ance which  the  longer  readings  will  give 
him  by  example  appears  in  these  briefer 
passages  by  precept.  The  most  helpful 
books  for  this  purpose  are  the  Proverbs  and 
the  Psalms.  One  is  practical,  the  other  is 
emotional;  one  is  full  of  morality,  the  other 
of  prayer  and  praise.  Each  of  them  con- 
tains sentences  which  express  a  conception' 
of  God  or  of  duty  such  as  we  have  now 
outgrown,  but  these  are  easily  set  aside  in 
the  reading:  as  Mr.  Moody  advised,  com- 
paring them  to  the  bones  when  one  eats 
214 


A  Household  Lectionary 


fish.  The  child  will  be  taught  to  take  such 
sayings  as  really  appeal  to  him,  and  appro- 
priate them,  letting  the  rest  go. 

To  these  books  which  may  be  read  stead- 
ily through,  a  little  every  day,  may  be  added 
certain  great  chapters  out  of  other  Bible 
writings: — The  Story  of  Job,  as  told  in  the 
first  and  last  chapters ;  the  Praise  of  Wisdom 
(Job  28),  the  Making  of  the  World  (Job 
38,  39),  Behemoth  and  Leviathan  (Job  40: 
15-41:34);  the  Time  of  the  Singing  of 
Birds  (Song  of  Solomon  2) ;  these  passages 
in  Isaiah: — ^The  Mountain  of  the  Lord  (2: 
2-4),  the  Reign  of  Peace  (11  :i-9),  the  Fall 
of  Babylon  (13,  14),  the  Return  to  Zion 
(35),  Comfort  Ye  My  People  (40),  the 
Bringers  of  Good  Tidings  (52:1-10),  the 
Man  of  Sorrows  (53),  Ho,  Every  One 
That  Thirsteth  (55),  Arise,  Shine  (60:1- 
20),  the  Preacher  of  Good  Tidings  (61)  ; 
the  Love  of  God  (Hosea  14:4-9),  the 
March  of  the  Locusts  (Joel  i,  2),  the 
Prayer  of  Habakkuk. 
215 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

And  in  the  New  Testament: — the  Flesh 
and  the  Spirit  (Romans  8),  the  Living 
Sacrifice  (Romans  12),  the  Praise  of  Char- 
ity (I  Cor.  13),  the  Praise  of  Faith  (Heb. 
II :  1-12:  2),  the  Love  of  Christ  (Eph.  3), 
the  Armor  of  God  (Eph.  6:10-18),  the 
Resurrection  of  the  Dead  (I  Cor.  15),  We 
Faint  Not  (II  Cor.  4),  the  Heavenly  House 
(II  Cor.  5:  i-io),  the  Peace  of  God  (Phil. 
4:  1-8),  Pure  Religion  (James  i),  the 
Saints  in  Glory  (Rev.  7:9-17),  the  New 
Jerusalem  (Rev.  21,  22).  These  and  other 
notable  selections  are  taken  from  the  Scrip- 
tures and  printed  by  themselves  in  a  book 
entitled,  'Tassages  of  the  Bible,  Chosen  for 
Their  Literary  Beauty  and  Interest" 
(Adam  and  Charles  Black). 

The  Gospel  of  St.  John  is  a  treasury  of 
such  golden  sentences,  and  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  is  to  be  read  repeatedly.  The 
Beatitudes  will  be  learned  by  heart,  and  the 
Golden  Rule  (Matth.  7:  12),  and  the  Royal 
Law  (James  2:8),  and  the  New  Command- 
216 


A  Household  hcctionarx 


ment  (John  13:34).  The  short  readings 
will  suggest  other  passages.  The  last  chap- 
ters of  most  of  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul  con- 
tain counsels  of  the  greatest  value  for  the 
living  of  the  common  life.  Here  the  pro- 
found doctrines  are  applied  immediately  to 
conduct.  And  these  admonitions  and  di- 
rections are  such  as  we  still  need  in  order  to 
live  aright. 


CHAPTER   XII 
THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  TEACHER 

SOMETIMES  the  whole  matter  of 
the  training  of  children  in  religion 
is  committed  by  the  parents  to  the 
.church  school.  This  is  of  necessity  the 
case  where  the  parents  themselves  are  con- 
fessedly incapable,  or  are  out  of  sympathy 
with  religion ;  and  it  is  true  in  those  neigh- 
borhoods where  the  unit  of  the  parish  is  no 
longer  the  family  but  the  individual.  In 
these  crowded  communities  life  is  impov- 
erished of  one  of  the  elements  which  belong 
to  the  normal  conduct  of  households, — the 
element  of  privacy.  The  blessed  oppor- 
tunities of  quiet  conversation  and  confidence 
between  parents  and  children  are  either  in- 
frequent or  lacking  altogether.  Peaceful 
evenings  are  impossible.  Sunday  afternoon 
218 


T^he  Sunday-School  Treacher 

is  like  any  other  afternoon,  as  Sunday  is  like 
any  other  day.  Inherited  religious  habits, 
under  these  conditions,  have  a  hard  fight 
for  life;  and  though  they  are  sometimes 
kept,  with  great  courage  and  patience,  they 
are  in  evident  need  of  reinforcement.  To 
such  families  the  Sunday-school  teacher 
w^ho  is  faithful  and  competent  is  a  benedic- 
tion. By  instruction  on  Sunday,  by  visita- 
tion during  the  week,  by  the  influence  of 
precept  and  example,  a  teacher  in  such  cir- 
cumstances meets  a  serious  demand. 

Indeed,  under  almost  any  conditions, 
even  when  the  child  is  happily  instructed 
at  home,  the  school  is  intended  to  satisfy  a 
need  which  the  home  cannot  supply.  The 
child  who  is  taught  only  by  his  parents  may 
be  better  informed,  but  he  lacks  the  insti- 
tutional and  social  spirit  which  is  imparted 
in  a  good  school.  He  is  in  peril  of  individ- 
ualism, whose  intellectual  defect  is  narrow- 
ness, and  whose  religious  defect  is  selfish- 
ness. It  is  good  for  the  child  to  become  a 
15  219 


T'he  T'raiizing  of  Children  in  Religion 

part  of  the  corporate  life  of  the  parish,  to 
share  in  the  various  benefactions  and  phi- 
lanthropies which  are  carried  on  by  the 
school,  and  thus  to  learn  early  in  life  to 
consider  the  good  of  his  neighbors,  and  the 
welfare  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Other- 
wise, he  may  be  like  a  soldier  who  has 
learned  war  by  correspondence,  and  has 
never  kept  step  with  a  file  of  men,  nor 
obeyed  the  impersonal  orders  of  a  captain. 
Moreover,  a  good  teacher  will  say  some 
things  more  efficiently  than  even  a  good 
mother.  The  mother  speaks  with  a  certain 
timidity  and  nervousness,  which  is  the  nat- 
ural result  of  her  deep  affection  and  of  her 
correspondingly  deep  desire  for  the  child's 
good.  The  teacher  is  often  able  to  speak 
more  easily,  naturally  and  persuasively.  It 
depends,  however,  on  the  teacher.  The 
wise  parents  take  pains  to  know  to  whose 
class  John  or  Mary  has  been  assigned,  and 
to  make  the  teacher's  acquaintance.  A 
foolish,  idle,  ignorant,  prejudiced,  or  other- 
220 


'T'he  Stinday-School  Treacher 

wise  incompetent  teacher  may  make  a  dif- 
ference in  the  whole  religious  life  of  the 
child. 

A  good  teacher  possesses,  in  greater  or 
less  degree,  nine  points  of  excellence.  The 
first  is  punctuality.  The  faithful  teacher 
will  be  unfailingly  present  and  unfailingly 
prompt.  One  of  the  reasons  for  the  nervous 
prostration  of  the  clergy  is  the  unpunctual- 
ity  of  Sunday-school  teachers.  They  are  a 
hindering  influence  in  the  endeavor  to  set 
forward  the  life  of  the  spirit.  They  pull 
back. 

For  unpunctuality  includes  a  multitude 
of  sins.  The  unpunctual  teacher  is  lacking 
in  the  ability  of  discipline.  He  is  deficient 
in  that  sense  of  order  which  is  at  the  heart 
of  all  control.  Even  if  he  is  able  to  man- 
age a  class  under  normal  conditions  he  be- 
gins with  a  disadvantage.  He  has  permit- 
ted the  class  to  make  the  first  move.  He 
has  given  them  that  which  in  football  is 
called  the  attack.     In  football,  and  in  war, 

221 


T^he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

and  in  discipline  of  any  kind,  even  in  a  class 
in  Sunday-school,  the  odds  are  on  the  side 
of  the  attack.  When  the  teacher  arrives 
upon  the  scene,  the  scholars  have  already 
opened  the  hour's  proceedings.  In  most 
cases,  youthful  human  nature  being  w^hat  it 
is,  they  have  established  a  situation  of  cheer- 
ful disorder.  They  have  begun  in  a  spirit 
vs^hich  is  indifferent  both  to  the  service  and 
to  the  lesson.  The  tardy  teacher  must  re- 
gain a  rocky  mile  of  lost  ground.  And  this 
he  rarely  succeeds  in  doing.  The  mental 
and  moral  defects  which  make  him  habit- 
ually late  prevent  him  from  taking  the 
command.  The  w^ise  teacher  precedes  the 
pupils.  When  they  get  to  their  seats  they 
find  him  there  already,  prepared  to  receive 
them  one  by  one  into  an  association  for  the 
promoting  of  good  order. 

The  unpunctual  teacher  is  commonly  de- 
ficient not  only  in  the  ability  of  discipline 
but  in  the  sense  of  duty.  He  is  not  obedi- 
ent to  the  commands  of  conscience.     He  is 

222 


T^he  Sunday-School  Treacher 

not  attentive  to  the  inner  voice.  He  v^ill 
cheerfully  take  a  class,  if  he  is  asked  to  do 
so,  but  he  seems  not  to  understand  that  this 
acceptance  imposes  any  serious  responsibil- 
ity upon  him.  He  accepts  as  if  it  were  an 
invitation  to  an  afternoon  tea,  and  if  the 
weather  is  fair  and  no  other  social  oppor- 
tunity intervenes,  he  goes.  The  tombstone 
of  Mary  Lyon,  in  the  midst  of  the  beautiful 
grounds  of  the  college  which  she  founded, 
bears  these  words:  ''There  is  nothing  in  the 
universe  that  I  fear  but  that  I  shall  not 
know  all  my  duty,  or  shall  fail  to  do  it." 
It  is  an  admirable  expression  of  the  Puritan 
conscience.  Such  a  sentence  will  never  be 
written  on  the  tombstone  of  an  unpunctual 
teacher. 

The  ability  of  discipline  and  the  sense  of 
duty  are  initial  and  essential  to  the  work 
of  the  teacher.  Without  the  sense  of  duty, 
he  cannot  be  depended  on  to  be  present; 
without  the  ability  of  discipline,  he  may  not 
be  of  much  use  even  if  he  is  present.  And 
223 


T'he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

both  of  these  qualities  are  inherent  in  the 
grace  of  punctuality. 

To  punctuality,  the  good  teacher  will  add 
the  virtue  of  cheerfulness.  The  scholar 
comes  and  finds  the  punctual  teacher  in  his 
place:  so  far,  so  good.  But  what  does  the 
teacher  look  like?  For  punctuality  has  its 
besetting  defects.  It  is  sometimes  a  forbid- 
ding excellence,  akin  to  primness,  sister  to 
severity. 

The  good  teacher  has  a  bright  face.  All 
good  Christians  are  good  looking:  not,  per- 
haps, from  the  point  of  view  of  the  pho- 
tographer, or  of  the  novelist  who  is  in  search 
of  a  hero  or  a  heroine  for  his  novel,  but  in 
the  eyes  of  all  discerning  persons.  The 
teacher,  who  for  the  moment  represents  the 
Christian  religion,  ought  of  all  people  to 
have  a  cheerful  countenance.  That  is  a 
vital  part  of  his  instruction.  St.  Paul 
showed  his  profound  knowledge  of  human 
nature  when  he  enjoined  those  who  show 
mercy  to  do  it  with  cheerfulness.  He  knew 
224 


T^he  Sunday-School  Treacher 

very  well  how  the  long  face,  the  somber 
manner,  the  artificial  pathos  and  piety  of 
some  benevolent  persons  spoil  their  gifts. 
There  is  a  look  in  the  faces  of  some  of  the 
people  who  are  seen  in  public  on  Sunday 
carrying  limp-covered  Bibles  under  their 
arms,  which  is  an  argument  against  the 
Christian  religion.  The  natural  man  be- 
holding such  disciples  says  within  himself, 
"From  this  religion,  good  Lord,  deliver 
usr 

It  is  true  that  the  warning,  "Be  not  right- 
eous overmuch,"  is  written  in  the  book  of 
Ecclesiastes,  which  is  not  the  best  book  in 
the  Bible.  Of  course,  if  we  take  righteous- 
ness to  mean  simple  interior  goodness,  it  is 
not  possible  to  be  righteous  overmuch, — 
except,  perhaps,  for  the  advantage  of  one's 
material  interests.  It  is  quite  possible, 
however,  to  be  righteous  overmuch  in  the 
matter  of  expression.  There  is  an  offensive 
goodness  which  defeats  its  own  purposes. 
It  is  highly  desirable,  in  order  to  effective 
225 


T^he  T^rammg  of  Children  in  Religion 

instruction,  that  the  Sunday-school  teacher 
be  a  human  being;  and  the  children  ought 
to  be  assured  of  that  encouraging  fact  by 
the  teacher's  behavior. 

The  lasting  lesson  is  taught  by  the  per- 
sonality of  the  teacher.  The  words  are  for- 
gotten, but  the  face  is  remembered.  And 
the  teacher's  face  and  manner  proclaim  the 
results  of  religion.  What  will  religion  do 
for  us?  What  sort  of  persons  will  it  make 
of  us?  These  questions  unexpressed  are  in 
the  hearts  of  the  scholars.  If  they  see  that 
religion  makes  the  teacher  pessimistic, 
nervous,  narrow-minded,  cross  and  com- 
plaining, they  will  be  prejudiced  against  it. 
The  teacher  may  teach  the  creed  of  Chris- 
tian satisfaction,  and  may  sing  the  songs  of 
everlasting  salvation,  and  may  set  for  golden 
texts  the  most  jubilant  sentences  of  spiritual 
cheer,  but  all  will  be  of  no  effect  unless  he 
himself  is  honestly  hopeful,  happy,  merry 
and  joyful.  It  is  true  that  the  preacher  in 
the  pulpit  is  impeded  by  a  general  disap- 
226 


T'he  Sunday-School  Treacher 

probation  of  humorous  sermons;  but  there 
is  no  such  impediment  in  the  Sunday-school. 
The  lesson  begins  well  when  teacher  and 
scholars  laugh  together. 

One  of  the  offices  of  cheerfulness  is  to 
act  as  an  ambassador  of  sympathy.  The 
good  teacher  will  add  to  his  punctuality 
cheerfulness,  and  to  his  cheerfulness  sym- 
pathy. For  all  true  teaching  commences 
with  the  establishment  of  a  point  of  contact. 
It  is  happily  said  that  the  mind  is  like  a 
social  club :  no  new  idea  is  admitted  unless 
introduced  by  a  member.  Accordingly, 
the  teacher  who  would  bring  a  new  thought 
into  a  child's  mind  must  first  acquaint  him- 
self with  the  ideas  which  dwell  in  the  child's 
mind  already.  He  must  ask  at  the  door  of 
the  mind  for  a  thought  which  is  a  member 
there  in  good  and  regular  standing,  and 
when  this  thought  appears  he  must  present 
the  stranger  and  ask  for  him  the  hospitali- 
ties of  the  place. 

Thus  there  are  boys'  minds  which  have 
227 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

absolutely  no  use  for  David  as  either  king 
or  poet.  There  is  not  a  king  or  a  poet  in 
their  club.  But  they  will  give  that  illus- 
trious sovereign  and  minstrel  the  glad  hand 
of  a  boy's  friendship  when  they  learn  that 
he  could  throw  a  stone  straighter  than  any- 
body else  in  his  neighborhood,  though  even 
this  may  be  an  insufficient  introduction  to 
boys  in  crowded  cities  where  the  yards  are 
covered  with  brick  and  the  woods  with  con- 
crete. Joab,  too,  comes  out  of  the  dim  haze 
of  a  complicated  chronicle  and  appears  in 
a  new  and  very  favorable  light  when  he  is 
presented  as  the  soldier  who  climbed  up  on 
hands  and  knees,  under  the  cover  of  the 
night,  along  the  watercourse  into  the  be- 
sieged city  on  the  cliff,  and  opened  the  gates 
to  the  besiegers.  Such  an  adventure  ap- 
peals at  once  to  the  instinctive  admiration 
of  youth. 

Remember  how  St.  Paul  began  his  ser- 
mon at  Athens  by  touching  at  once  the  point 
of  contact.     He  saw  that  there  was  not  in 
228 


T'he  Sunday-School  "teacher 

his  congregation  a  single  person  who  was 
acquainted  with  the  Old  Testament  religion. 
At  Antioch,  being  asked  to  speak,  he  had 
held  up  his  hand  and  said,  "Men  of  Israel, 
and  ye  that  fear  God,  hearken,"  and  then  he 
had  proceeded  to  remind  his  hearers  how 
the  God  of  Israel  chose  their  fathers  in  the 
land  of  Egypt,  and  with  a  high  arm  led  them 
forth  out  of  it.  That  manner  of  address 
was  admirable  at  Antioch,  but  it  would  not 
do  at  Athens.  "My  friends,"  he  says,  ad- 
dressing the  Athenians,  "I  perceive  that  you 
are  a  very  religious  people,  for  as  I  passed 
along  the  street  I  saw  an  altar,  which  you 
have  erected  to  the  Unknown  God.  Listen 
now  while  I  bring  you  tidings  of  the  Un- 
known God."  You  see  how,  both  at  Athens 
and  at  Antioch,  he  began  with  ideas  which 
were  already  accepted  by  the  people,  and 
made  the  old  thoughts  usher  in  the  new. 
Indeed,  the  Incarnation  itself  is  an  illus- 
tration of  the  divine  use  of  this  pedagogic 
method.  It  establishes  a  point  of  contact 
229 


T^he  'draining  of  Childreii  in  Religion 

between  God  and  man.  It  proceeds  by 
sympathy.  God  enters  into  human  life  that 
He  may  thereby  address  us  in  our  own  lan- 
guage, and  may  approach  us  with  the  appeal 
of  a  common  experience. 

The  teacher  must  know  the  scholar.  He 
must  know  his  name,  and  his  residence,  and 
his  father  and  mother,  and  his  brothers  and 
sisters.  He  must  know  what  he  is  studying 
between  nine  and  four  o'clock,  and  what 
he  is  playing  between  four  and  six.  He 
must  be  aware  on  Sunday  what  interesting 
events  in  the  scholar's  world  have  taken' 
place  on  Saturday.  If  he  knows  the  score 
of  yesterday's  game,  and  is  able  to  appre- 
ciate the  fine  points  of  the  play  which  won 
it,  he  is  in  possession  of  facts  such  as  no 
lexicon  can  supply.  He  is  able  to  follow 
in  the  steps  of  Kingsley,  who  said,  "I  begin 
with  that  which  is  interesting  them,  and 
thus  lead  them  to  the  things  which  are  of 
interest  to  me."  Such  knowledge  of  do- 
mestic conditions,  of  current  recreation,  of 
230 


T'he  Sunday-School  'teacher 

the  actual  concerns  of  boys  and  girls,  be- 
longs in  the  best  sense  to  the  department  of 
vital  statistics.  It  deals  with  living  facts. 
It  is  a  revelation  of  human  life.  This 
knowledge  is  acquired  in  the  homes  of  the 
children.  The  good  teacher  begins  his 
study  of  the  lesson  not  with  the  Bible  but 
with  the  class.  His  is  like  the  good  phy- 
sician whose  first  inquiry  is  about  the 
patient;  thus  he  is  able  to  select  the  reme- 
dies which  fit  the  case.  He  begins  by  learn- 
ing the  class.  Otherwise  he  will  share  the 
failure  of  the  dull  preacher  of  whom  it  was 
said  that  he  was  more  interested  in  the  truth 
than  he  was  in  the  people.  If  he  persists 
in  studying  the  books  without  reference  to 
the  boys,  he  may  come  to  deserve  the  hard 
description  of  the  parson  who  was  said  to 
be  invisible  six  days  of  the  week  and  incom- 
prehensible on  the  seventh.  The  two  con- 
ditions go  together. 

First  punctuality,  then  cheerfulness,  then 
sympathy,  then  patience.     The  good  teacher 
231 


'The  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

is  very  patient.  He  meets  ignorance  and 
indifference,  but  he  is  not  surprised.  He 
finds  scholars  who  know  nothing,  and  are 
content  to  know  nothing.  They  make  no 
response  to  his  approaches.  At  first,  he  can 
do  nothing  with  them.  Then  he  remem- 
bers that  the  Master  sent  the  disciples  to 
be  fishers  of  men,  and  he  reflects  that  no- 
body can  be  a  successful  fisherman  without 
being  very  patient.  The  fisherman  waits, 
and  waits,  and  still  waits.  That  is  a  rec- 
ognized part  of  his  day's  work  and  play. 
He  tries  experiments.  Now  he  invites  the 
fish  by  trolling,  now  by  casting  the  fly. 
Now  he  offers  a  grasshopper,  then  a  worm, 
after  that  a  frog.  The  height  of  his  skill 
is  exercised  in  discovering  what  will  attract 
the  fish.  Indeed,  he  scorns  the  easy  fish. 
He  loves  the  shy  bass  which  hides  in  the 
shadows  of  the  rocks,  and  which  when  he 
feels  the  hook  fights  long  and  hard.  The 
teacher  is  intent  on  catching  boys  and  girls. 
And  the  fisherman  is  his  example.  He  is 
232 


^he  Sunday-School  Treacher 


everlastingly  patient.  It  is  his  particular 
joy  to  try  the  indifferent,  the  elusive,  the 
hostile  child  with  new  kinds  of  bait.  And 
he  expects  little. 

Children  have  little  intuitive  respect  for 
persons  or  for  places.  They  do  not  under- 
stand why  they  should  keep  silence  in  the 
church.  They  perceive  no  incongruity 
between  kneeling  and  whispering.  They 
take  so  readily  to  ritual  that  even  their  par- 
ents are  sometimes  deceived,  but  there  is 
very  little  relation  in  their  minds  between 
ritual  and  religion.  They  are  not  irrever- 
ent; they  arc  only  unreverent.  Religious 
reverence  is  at  heart  a  perception  of  the 
presence  of  God.  The  wise  teacher  knows 
by  his  own  experience  that  this  perception 
is  of  slow  growth,  and,  even  in  the  saints, 
is  intermittent.  He  understands,  and  makes 
allowance. 

The  wise  teacher  is  not  easily  shocked  by 
the  unrest  or  by  the  unconscious  imperti- 
nence of  children.     He  listens  to  the  child's 
233 


^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

queer  notions  about  God,  as  the  father  or 
mother  overhears  the  child's  confidential 
communication  with  God,  reflecting  mean- 
while upon  various  passages  in  the  lives  of 
the  patriarchs.  Abraham  and  Moses  both 
took  it  upon  themselves  to  admonish  the 
Eternal;  they  instructed  the  Judge  of  all 
the  earth  in  the  difference  between  right  and 
wrong.  ^'Jehovah  said  unto  Moses,  'How 
long  will  this  people  despise  Me?  and  how 
long  will  they  not  believe  in  Me  for  all 
the  signs  which  I  have  wrought  among 
them?  I  will  smite  them  with  the  pesti- 
lence and  disinherit  them,  and  will  make 
of  thee  a  nation  greater  and  mightier  than 
they.'  And  Moses  said  unto  Jehovah, 
Then  the  Egyptians  will  hear  it!'  "  The 
Egyptians  will  hear  it,  and  say,  "Because 
Jehovah  was  not  able  to  bring  this  people 
into  the  land  which  He  swore  unto  them, 
therefore  He  hath  slain  them  in  the  wilder- 
ness." And  MtDses  reminded  Jehovah  that 
He  had  promised  to  be  slow  to  anger  and 
234 


T'he  Sunday-School  Treacher 

abundant  in  loving-kindness.  He  spoke 
with  great  plainness  of  speech.  So  did  St. 
Peter  to  whom  there  came  a  voice  from 
heaven  saying,  "Rise,  Peter;  kill  and  eat," 
and  who  answered  with  conscientious 
promptness,  "Not  so.  Lord!"  These  men 
spoke  out  in  the  divine  presence  as  the  little 
child  speaks  to  his  father.  They  meant  no 
disrespect.  They  had  not  in  their  hearts 
the  faintest  shadow  of  presumption.  God 
knew  that,  and  was  very  patient  with 
them. 

Children  are  not  naturally  interested  in 
ethics  or  in  theology.  The  wise  teacher 
takes  that  for  granted.  He  knows  that  the 
child  is  living  over  again  the  long  life  of 
the  race,  and  that  in  the  infant  school  he  is 
still  in  the  stone  age.  The  stone  age  was  a 
time  when  the  great  man  was  not  the  phi- 
losopher, still  less  the  saint,  but  the  hero, 
the  man  of  large  and  valiant  deeds.  There- 
fore the  teacher  comes  into  the  infant  school 
bringing  the  heroes  with  him,  and  he  is 
16  235 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

satisfied  for  a  long  time  with  admiration 
of  the  hero's  sword  and  might.  The  hero's 
moral  qualities  will  have  to  wait.  The 
teacher  will  by  no  means  fail  to  impress  the 
moral  lesson,  but  he  will  not  be  disappointed 
if  it  makes  only  a  slight  impression. 

Especially,  the  teacher  who  has  an  under- 
standing heart  will  be  patient  with  the 
doubts  of  his  older  pupils.  He  will  see 
that  here  again  the  ages  of  the  past  are  lived 
over  in  the  life  of  the  individual.  There 
is  a  time  when  doubt  is  normal.  It  is  the 
mood  out  of  which  philosophy  and  discov- 
ery and  progress  have  their  beginnings. 
The  teacher  will  be  very  tender  of  it.  He 
will  listen  not  only  with  patience  but  with 
humility,  putting  on  no  foolish  air  of  om- 
niscience nor  alarm  of  orthodoxy,  but  re- 
minding the  questioner  of  the  limitations 
of  the  widest  knowledge,  of  the  environ- 
ment of  mystery,  and  of  the  immeasurable 
vastness  of  truth.  Leaving  the  question 
open,  he  will  suggest  this  and  that  definite 
23,6 


The  Su72day'School  Teacher 

assuring  fact.  Thus  he  will  help  his  pupils 
out  of  the  dark  into  the  light. 

Thus  far  I  have  considered  the  qualities 
of  the  teacher  as  they  concern  the  relation 
between  him  and  the  children.  Let  us  add 
now  the  element  of  the  lesson.  The  next 
virtue  is  knowledge.  The  good  teacher 
will  come  to  the  class  with  a  clear  knowl- 
edge of  the  lesson. 

This  is  the  result  of  study.  First,  of  that 
wide  study  which  takes  all  knowledge  for  its 
province.  The  teacher  is  best  fitted  intel- 
lectually for  his  task  who  is  best  able  to 
look  at  the  lesson  against  the  wide  back- 
ground of  history  and  of  literature.  He 
perceives  what  the  lesson  means  in  its  con- 
nection with  the  general  life.  He  is  thus 
able  to  establish  a  point  of  contact  between 
the  Sunday-school  and  the  high  school. 
Here,  for  example,  in  the  midst  of  the  les- 
son, is  a  publican.  For  the  class,  the  name 
signifies  nothing,  being  unrelated  with  any 
previous  experience.  A  publican  is  an  ex- 
237 


T'he  l^raihing  of  Children  in  Religion 

tinct  species.  Even  the  fact  that  his  busi- 
ness was  to  collect  the  customs  and  the  taxes 
will  not  greatly  interest  the  children,  to 
whom  these  obligations  have  not  actually 
come  as  yet.  But  wait.  The  publican  was 
a  servant  of  the  Roman  Empire.  He  was 
in  employ  of  that  great  government  whose 
fame  is  in  the  school  books.  Or  the  lesson 
mentions  the  Magnificat.  Many  a  child 
has  had  his  regard  for  the  Magnificat  much 
increased  by  learning  that  Longfellow 
brought  it  into  a  poem  in  the  Tales  of  a 
Wayside  Inn.  This  is  a  kind  of  knowledge 
with  which  the  good  teacher  is  continually 
storing  and  enriching  his  mind.  Such  a 
book  as  Prothero's  "The  Psalms  in  Human 
Life"  provides  a  hundred  points  of  connec- 
tion between  that  part  of  the  Bible  and  the 
history  which  is  studied  in  the  school.  Such 
illustrations  as  those  which  are  inexpen- 
sively published  by  the  Perry  Picture  Com- 
pany bring  to  the  reinforcement  of  interest 
the  genius  of  the  greatest  artists. 
238 


'T'he  Sunday-School  'T'eacher 

Then  the  teacher  takes  the  assigned  lesson 
and  reads  it  slowly,  looking  at  every  word, 
going  now  to  the  dictionary  and  now  to  the 
geography,  and  making  sure  of  a  detailed 
understanding:  What  does  it  all  mean? 
Who  are  these  people?  Whence  have  they 
come?  Whither  do  they  go?  What  is 
their  possible  place  in  our  life?  Questions 
of  ethics,  questions  of  theology,  which  may 
possibly  arise  in  the  minds  of  the  children, 
or  which  ought  to  be  proposed  to  them,  will 
be  first  considered  by  the  teacher.  Lessons 
in  Samuel  or  Kings  will  be  compared  with 
the  parallel  history  in  Chronicles;  passages 
in  one  Gospel  will  be  read  in  connection 
with  the  account  of  the  same  event  in  an- 
other; the  Acts  will  be  compared  with  the 
Epistles.  George  Adam  Smith's  "Histor- 
ical Geography  of  the  Holy  Land"  (A.  C. 
Armstrong  &  Co.)  will  often  be  found  sug- 
gestive. Charles  Foster  Kent's  "Historical 
Bible"  in  six  small  volumes,  four  for  the 
Old  Testament  and  two  for  the  New,  will 
239 


l^he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

bring  the  teacher  the  best  treasures  of  recent 
scholarship. 

Knowledge,  however,  may  be  dull  enough 
unless  it  is  vitalized  by  the  next  quality  of 
which  I  will  speak,  the  quality  of  imagina- 
tion. The  scenes,  the  people,  the  events, 
must,  be  real,  first  to  the  teacher,  then  to 
the  scholar. 

The  Bible  is  illuminated  by  imagination., 
The  writers  were  intent  on  interesting  us, 
and  in  their  manner  of  doing  it  they  are 
mighty  bold.  They  do  not  hesitate,  even 
in  the  absence  of  evidence,  to  make  their 
heroes  talk.  One  of  the  plainest  differences 
between  history  of  the  usual  kind  and  fiction 
is  that  history  is  printed  in  solid  and  formi- 
dable paragraphs,  while  fiction  is  full  of 
conversation.  He  says,  and  she  says,  and 
so  the  story  goes,  to  the  delight  of  the 
reader.  This  is  the  method  of  the  Bible. 
Balaam  and  Balak  stand  upon  the  peak  of 
Peor,  "that  looketh  down  upon  the  desert." 
Along  the  desert  is  encamped  the  invading 
240 


T^he  Sunday 'School  Treacher 

army  of  Israel.     Balak  has  sent  for  Balaam 
to   curse   these   strong  invaders,   but   after 
arranging  all  the  right  preliminaries,  build- 
ing seven  altars  and  offering  a  bullock  and 
a  ram  on  every  altar,  still  the  words  of  male- 
diction will  not  come.     Again  and  again, 
the  magician  speaks  the  words  of  blessing. 
Then  Balak  loses  his  temper.     He  smites 
his  hands  together,  as  men  do  in  anger.     "I 
hired  you  to  curse  my  enemies,"  he  cries, 
"and   you   have    blessed    them    altogether. 
Now,  go  home!  go  home!     I  meant  to  pro- 
mote you  to  great  honor,  but  the  Lord  has 
held  you  back  from  honor."     And  Balaam 
answers,  "It  is  what  I  told  you  at  the  begin- 
ning.    It  is  what  I  said  plainly  to  your  mes- 
sengers.    The  prophet  of   the   Lord  God 
cannot  be  bribed.     'Balak,'  I  said,  'may  give 
me  his  house  full  of  silver  and  gold;  that 
will  make  no  difference.     I  cannot  go  be- 
yond the  word  of  the  Lord  to  do  either  bad 
or  good  of  my  own  mind.'     Now  listen!" 
And  he  predicts  for  Israel  a  larger  blessing 
241 


T^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

still.  How  did  the  historian  know  what 
passed  between  the  magician  and  the  king? 
Did  he  read  it  in  some  dim  inscription? 
Did  he  find  it  written  on  a  brick?  He  knew 
no  more  about  it  than  you  or  I.  He  had 
the  fact  of  the  conspiracy;  he  had  the  an- 
cient poems  which  belonged  to  it;  as  for  the 
conversation,  he  said  to  himself,  How  did 
they  naturally  speak  that  day  when  all  the 
incantations  resulted  in  our  favor? 

The  Bible  writers  used  their  devout  im- 
agination: the  teachers  of  the  Bible  may 
well  do  the  same.  That  is  what  Mr. 
Moody  did.  It  is  one  of  the  secrets  of  his 
unrivaled  power  over  the  attention  and  the 
conscience  and  the  will  of  the  people.  In 
his  preaching  the  patriarchs  and  the  apos- 
tles were  as  real  and  alive  as  anybody  in 
the  congregation.  He  told  what  the  neigh- 
bors said  while  the  ark  was  a-preparing, 
how  they  called  it  "Noah's  Folly,"  and 
asked  him  how  he  proposed  to  get  it  to  the 
water.  They  reminded  him  that  it  was  not 
242 


T'he  Sui2day'School  Treacher 

usual  to  build  a  boat  in  the  middle  of  a 
sandy  field.  Of  course,  they  did.  We 
need  no  revelation,  or  even  inspiration — 
only  imagination — to  tell  us  that.  He  de- 
scribed the  home-coming  of  the  man  out  of 
whom  the  Lord  had  cast  a  legion  of  devils. 
'There's  father!"  cry  the  children,  at  first 
in  terror,  then  in  amazement.  For  father, 
instead  of  coming  down  the  street,  howling 
and  jumping  and  waving  his  arms,  is  walk- 
ing like  a  sober  man.  We  look  out  of  the 
window,  and  there  he  is ;  and  we  hear  what 
he  says  to  his  wife  and  what  his  wife  says 
to  him.  It  is  no  doubt  well  to  put  some 
restraint  on  the  pedagogic  imagination,  but 
imagination  there  must  be.  It  is  like  paint- 
ing a  picture.  The  record  provides  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  material.  Abraham  talks 
with  an  angel  at  the  tent  door,  and  Sarah 
prepares  a  meal  and  spreads  the  table.  The 
food  is  bread  and  butter,  with  a  cup  of  milk, 
and  a  bit  of  meat, — veal,  for  which  Abra- 
ham has  killed  a  tender  calf.  We  are  not 
243 


T'he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

told,  however,  how  the  tent  looked,  nor  how 
Abraham  and  Sarah  were  attired,  nor  on 
what  sort  of  table  the  meal  was  served,  nor 
the  appearance  of  the  surrounding  hills  or 
trees.  These  the  painter  must  supply.  The 
teacher  must  do  the  same. 

After  knowledge  and  imagination,  the 
next  good  quality  is  expression.  That  which 
is  in  the  teacher's  mind  must  be  transferred 
to  the  mind  of  the  listener. 

Expression  is  assisted  by  clearness  of 
thought.  The  wise  teacher  marshals  the 
lesson  like  an  invading  army.  Here  are  the 
main  divisions,  the  right  wing  and  the  left; 
and  in  them  their  regiments;  and  in  each 
regiment  its  companies;  and  in  the  rear  the 
reserves,  and  the  base  of  supplies.  That  is, 
the  teacher  makes  a  plan  of  the  lesson.  The 
good  preacher  does  that  in  the  preparation 
of  his  sermon.  Phillips  Brooks  not  only 
made  a  plan,  but  noted  against  each  division 
how  many  pages  it  should  have  in  the  com- 
pleted manuscript.  The  teacher,  whose 
244 


T'he  Sunday-School  'teacher 

time  is  brief,  will  find  this  an  excellent  ex- 
ample— else  the  bell  will  ring  while  the 
lesson  is  half  taught.  Such  analysis  will 
help  the  teacher  to  present  truth  in  its  right 
proportions,  and  to  put  the  emphasis  in  the 
right  places.  And  the  scholar  will  remem- 
ber. 

Expression  is  assisted  not  only  by  clear- 
ness of  thought  but  by  simplicity  of  speech, 
even  to  the  extent  of  homeliness.  No  mat- 
ter in  what  version  the  lesson  is  read,  it  will 
still  need  further  translation  into  the  dialect 
of  youth.  The  addition  of  the  leaven  to 
the  meal  is  an  act  which,  even  to  a  class  of 
useful  girls,  has  no  significance  whatever. 
In  all  the  instructions  of  their  mother,  and 
the  recipes  of  the  books,  and  the  operations 
of  the  kitchen,  they  have  never  heard  the 
word.  They  do,  however,  know  something 
about  yeast.  A  translation  into  our  ordi- 
nary language  illuminates  the  situation. 
The  boys  are  altogether  unacquainted  with 
centurions.  They  have  no  idea  whether  a 
245 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

centurion  is  a  lawyer,  or  a  doctor,  or  a  min- 
ister: probably  a  minister.  A  new  interest 
at  once  arises  when  they  learn  that  "cen- 
turion" is  the  Latin  word  for  "captain." 
So  in  almost  every  lesson. 

The  punctual,  cheerful,  sympathetic,  pa- 
tient teacher,  possessed  of  the  qualities  of 
knowledge,  of  imagination  and  of  expres- 
sion, is  likely  to  be  a  good  teacher.  But  he 
can  be  sure  that  he  is  teaching  aright  only 
by  use  of  a  further  quality  which  we  may 
call  the  gift  of  interrogation.  He  will  ask 
questions.  Thus  he  will  reveal  both  the 
apprehension  and  the  misapprehension  of 
his  hearers  and  will  perceive  wherein  his 
instruction  needs  to  be  explained,  amplified 
and  emphasized. 

The  wise  teacher  will  continually  inter- 
rupt his  teaching  with  appeals  to  his  pupils. 
He  will  punctuate  all  that  he  says  with 
marks  of  interrogation.  One  effect  of  this 
method  will  be  to  gain  and  maintain  atten- 
tion. The  lad  with  the  wandering  glance 
246 


The  Sunday-School  Treacher 

will  be  recalled  by  the  sound  of  his  name 
and  by  the  necessity  to  respond.  And  with 
this  response  comes  a  second  effect  in  the 
impression  which  is  thus  made  upon  the 
memory.  The  fact  of  articulation  clenches 
the  statement.  That  which  is  only  heard  is 
for  the  most  part  remembered  vaguely  and 
is  easily  forgotten.  It  needs  to  be  enforced 
by  the  repetition  of  the  lips. 

Attention,  then,  and  remembrance  are 
two  of  the  fruits  of  good  questioning.  A 
third  is  information.  Only  by  inquiry  can 
the  teacher  be  informed  as  to  the  contents 
of  the  scholar's  mind.  It  is  by  interroga- 
tion that  the  process  is  completed  whereby 
the  words  of  Holy  Scripture  are  adequately 
translated  into  the  language  of  common  life. 
In  this  process,  the  good  teacher  takes  no 
knowledge  for  granted.  It  was  a  young 
person  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence 
who  said,  in  answer  to  a  question,  that  a 
censer  is  a  man  who  takes  a  census.  It 
was  a  student  in  a  college  for  women  who 
247 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

said  that  Galilee  was  named  for  Galileo, 
who  wrote  a  description  of  the  country.  It 
was  in  one  of  our  most  famous  universities 
that  among  the  freshmen  who  were  sud- 
denly called  by  a  professor  of  English  to 
write  a  story — any  story — from  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, half-a-dozen  wrote  an  account  of 
the  Prodigal  Son. 

Such  statements  open  the  gate  of  the  Gar- 
den of  Absurdity,  in  whose  tangled  ways 
and  upon  whose  dizzy  heights  the  scholars 
are  pleasantly  wandering  while  the  teacher's 
earnest  voice  is  busy  with  the  lesson.  There 
the  sober  words  take  on  strange  shapes,  such 
as  Ezekiel  saw  beside  the  river  Chebar. 
The  unquestioned  scholar  looks  at  the 
teacher  with  grave  eyes,  but  in  his  mind 
he  stands  in  the  enchanted  shadows  where 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  and  Alice  in 
Wonderland  dance  about  him  hand  in  hand. 
Nothing  will  recall  him  out  of  this  condi- 
tion except  the  sharp  call  of  a  question. 

Thus  I  come  to  the  ninth  of  the  wise  qual- 
248 


The  Sunday-School  T'each 


cr 


ities  of  the  good  teacher.  The  first  four, — 
punctuality,  cheerfulness,  sympathy  and  pa- 
tience,— may  be  roughly  described  as  psy- 
chological. That  is,  they  represent  those 
elements  in  teaching  which  concern  the 
spirit  of  the  teacher  and  the  scholar.  The 
second  four, — knowledge,  imagination,  ex- 
pression and  interrogation — we  may  per- 
haps call  intellectual.  They  concern  the 
mind  of  the  teacher  and  the  scholar.  The 
quality  to  which  I  now  come  has  to  do  with 
the  heart.  The  supreme  quality  of  the  good 
teacher  is  religion. 

What  is  all  this  for,  this  preparation  of 
the  lesson,  this  hour  of  instruction,  this  busi- 
ness of  teaching  in  the  Sunday-school? 
What  is  the  aim  and  intention  of  this  effort? 
It  is  not  simply  for  the  purpose  of  knowl- 
edge; it  is  for  the  purpose  of  character. 
The  Sunday-school  exists  to  assist  boys  and 
girls  to  grow  up  into  good  Christian  men 
and  women.  The  Bible  is  the  text-book 
because  of  its  effectiveness  to  do  that  thing. 
249 


T'he  draining  of  Children  Z7i  Religion 

That  the  child  shall  come  into  a  knowledge 
of  Jesus  Christ,  and  thus  into  admiration 
and  reference  and  affection,  and  finally  into 
entire  allegiance  is  the  true  reason  for  which 
the  Sunday-school  is  established. 

And  this  purpose  is  effected  mainly  by 
the  character  of  the  teacher.  The  teacher 
may  have  all  the  qualities  which  I  have 
named,  and  be  a  failure.  He  may  be  punc- 
tual and  cheerful  and  all  the  rest  of  it,  and 
yet  be  only  qualified  to  teach  arithmetic. 
For  nobody  can  teach  religion  well  unless 
he  is  himself  religious.  The  teacher  must 
prepare  for  his  duties  on  Sunday  by  living 
in  God's  service  all  the  week.  He  must 
sweeten  and  enrich  and  enforce  his  teach- 
ing by  his  own  experience.  He  must  be  a 
person  of  prayer;  he  must  have  an  abiding 
consciousness  of  the  divine  presence;  he 
must  be  honestly  trying  in  all  he  says  and 
does  and  is,  to  please  God;  he  must  be  seri- 
ously aware  of  the  unspeakable  importance 
of  the  soul;  his  affections  must  be  set  on 
250 


T'he  Sui2daySchool  Treacher 

things  above.  He  may  well  desire  that  his 
pupils  shall  love  him,  but  he  must  desire, 
above  and  beyond  all,  that  they  shall  love 
God. 

Indeed,  this  final  quality  of  religion  may 
make  amends  for  some  w^eakness  in  the  other 
virtues.  This  I  say  for  the  encouragement 
of  those  whom  this  catalogue  of  excellences 
may  have  disheartened.  The  teacher  may 
not  be  very  wise,  but  if  he  is  good, — simply, 
unaffectedly  and  genuinely  good, — he  may 
be  a  good  teacher.  Even  if  he  is  only  faith- 
fully trying  to  be  good,  making  many  blun- 
ders and  daily  falling  amidst  petty  tempta- 
tions, yet  keeping  on, — even  such  an 
imperfect  person  may  teach  well.  God 
grant  it,  for  just  such  a  person  we  must  each 
confess  ourself  to  be.  Indeed,  I  will  ven- 
ture to  assert  that  a  modest  sinner  will  be 
a  better  teacher  than  a  perfect  saint.  The 
saint  is  somewhat  remote  from  the  homely 
conditions  of  our  ordinary  life.  The  sin- 
ner is  of  our  own  close  kin  and  kind.  He 
17  251 


T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

understands  us.  He  knows  by  his  own  hard 
experience  how  difficult  it  is  to  be  good. 
He  has  overcome  some  of  his  sins,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  and  when  he  tells  us  that  we 
too  may  put  down  Satan  under  our  feet, 
we  believe  him.  We  see  that  he  knows 
what  he  is  talking  about. 

Whoever,  then,  desires  to  be  a  better 
Christian,  and  is  earnestly  endeavoring  day 
by  day  to  bring  that  good  desire  to  good 
effect,  may  teach  in  Sunday-school,  the 
whole  occupation  of  which  is  to  bring  the 
learners  into  that  frame  of  mind.  No 
others  need  apply. 


CHAPTER   XIII 
SUNDAY  AND  THE  CHILDREN 

OHE  Sunday-school  solves  a  part  of 
the  Sunday  problem,  but  only  a 
small  part.  For  an  hour  or  more, 
the  children  are  trained,  more  or  less  effec- 
tively, in  religion ;  but  many  hours  remain. 
Here  is  a  day  set  apart  by  common  custom 
from  the  other  days,  and  in  its  intention  de- 
voted to  the  furtherance  of  religion.  How 
may  it  be  best  employed  to  serve  the  pur- 
poses which  we  have  at  heart? 

In  order  to  make  our  Sunday  plans 
aright,  we  ought  to  have  a  clear  understand- 
ing as  to  the  significance  of  the  day.  Thus 
we  shall  be  able  to  instruct  our  conscience, 
which  is  at  present  somewhat  confused;  and 
we  shall  be  guided  in  our  endeavor  to  ad- 
just the  traditions  brought  down  from  our 
253 


T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

devout  ancestors  to  the  usages  which  seem 
to  be  forced  upon  us  by  our  contemporary 
conditions. 

The  day  has  two  essential  meanings. 
One  is  contained  in  the  word  Rest,  the  other 
in  the  word  Religion. 

The  Old  Testament  day  is  enjoined  in  the 
fourth  commandment.  The  sanction  of  it, 
the  reason  for  setting  it  apart,  is  stated  in 
one  way  in  Exodus  and  in  another  way  in 
Deuteronomy.  In  the  more  familiar  form, 
in  Exodus  (20:  11)  the  holy  day  appears  as 
a  commemoration  of  the  repose  of  the  Cre- 
ator after  the  making  of  the  world.  He 
"rested  the  seventh  day:  wherefore  the 
Lord  blessed  the  sabbath  day  and  sanctified 
it."  In  the  other  form,  in  Deuteronomy 
(5:  15)  the  day  is  a  memorial  of  the  deliv- 
erance from  Egypt.  "Thou  shalt  remem- 
ber that  thou  wast  a  servant  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  the  Lord  thy  God  brought  thee 
out  thence  by  a  mighty  hand  and  by  an  out- 
stretched arm :  therefore  the  Lord  thy  God 
254 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

commanded  thee  to  keep  the  sabbath  day." 
There  is  no  difference,  however,  as  to  the 
spirit  and  the  manner  in  which  the  day  is  to 
be  observed.  It  is  to  be  kept  in  the  spirit 
of  religion;  it  is  a  sabbath  unto  the  Lord 
God,  in  His  name  and  honor.  Special 
sacrifices  were  appointed  to  be  offered  at 
that  time.  And  it  is  to  be  kept  in  the  man- 
ner of  a  holiday.  The  emphatic  and  dis- 
tinctive word  is  "rest."  "Thou  shalt  not 
do  any  work."  And  this  blessing  of  rest 
is  extended  not  only  to  all  the  members  of 
the  household,  but  to  all  strangers  who  for 
the  moment  may  be  sojourning  in  the  house- 
hold, and  to  the  domestic  animals. 

Accordingly,  the  essential  purpose  of  the 
sabbath  was  considerate  and  philanthropic. 
It  was  a  law  of  kindness.  It  was  one  of  the 
earliest  endeavors  to  determine  by  statute 
the  relation  of  the  employer  to  the  em- 
ployed. The  sanction  in  Deuteronomy  is 
significant  and  explanatory.  "You  have 
been  slaves,"  the  commandment  says,  "and 
255 


T^he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

you  are  now  in  your  new  freedom  to  have 
slaves  yourselves.  Remember  your  own 
bondage.  Do  not  be  hard  upon  your  sei*v- 
ants.  Once  every  week  give  them  a  day 
off." 

The  method  by  which  the  Old  Testament 
legislators  tried  to  secure  this  leisure  was 
that  of  negation  and  restriction.  Such  and 
such  things,  interfering  with  the  right  to 
rest,  might  not  be  done.  The  method  was 
enforced  with  some  severity.  The  incident 
of  the  man  who  was  found  gathering  sticks 
on  the  sabbath  day  and  was  promptly  stoned 
to  death  for  the  admonition  of  the  people, 
shows  how  zealously  they  guarded  against 
even  those  little  and  innocent  transgressions 
which  might  grow  into  serious  infringe- 
ments of  the  privilege  of  leisure.  They 
were  mindful  of  the  fable  of  the  camel  who, 
being  permitted  to  put  one  toe  into  the  tent, 
gradually  got  his  whole  body  in  after  it, 
and  ejected  the  owner.  They  made  many 
curious  laws  concerning  the  keeping  of  the 
256 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

holy  day,  prescribing  to  the  last  minute  de- 
tail what  might  not  be  done. 

Two  considerations,  however,  defend  us 
from  drawing  over-severe  conclusions  from 
the  Old  Testament  observance. 

One  is  the  fact  that  the  Old  Testament 
people  enjoyed  the  Sabbath.  They  de- 
lighted in  it.  There  is  no  more  expression 
of  a  sense  of  hardship  in  the  keeping  of  the 
Jewish  sabbath  than  there  is  among  us  as  to 
the  keeping  of  Thanksgiving  Day  or  Christ- 
mas. The  many  rules  and  the  accompany- 
ing penalties  did  not  make  the  sabbath  an 
irksome  or  gloomy  day.  It  was  a  festival 
of  social  joy.  Work  was  indeed  forbidden, 
but  no  ban  was  put  on  play.  Meals  might 
not  be  prepared  on  that  day,  but  the  choicest 
meals  of  the  week  were  prepared  on  the  day 
preceding  and  served  on  the  sabbath.  In 
the  Gospels,  the  Lord  is  often  seen  going 
out  to  dinner  on  that  day.  When  Hosea 
brought  a  message  from  God  beginning,  "I 
will  cause  all  her  mirth  to  cease,"  the  mirth 
257 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

included  among  other  festivals  the  sabbath. 
It  was  a  time  for  domestic  happiness,  for 
the  reunion  of  families,  for  the  ceasing  of 
the  daily  round  of  labor  in  order  that  all 
tired  people  might  have  rest  and  recreation. 
It  was  a  national  holiday. 

The  other  fact  to  be  had  in  mind  re- 
garding the  restrictions  set  about  the  sab- 
bath is  that  Jesus  dealt  with  them  with  the 
utmost  freedom.  This  He  did  to  an  extent 
which  continually  scandalized  His  strict 
neighbors.  He  did  not  hesitate  on  that  day 
to  do  the  works  of  mercy.  When  the  apos- 
tles on  the  sabbath  were  permitted  to  pluck 
ears  of  wheat  as  they  walked,  and  eat  them, 
they  violated  the  express  letter  of  the  con- 
temporary law.  The  plucking  was  a  kind 
of  reaping,  and  the  taking  of  the  kernel 
from  the  husk  was  a  kind  of  threshing.  To 
such  laws  and  interpretations,  Jesus  paid 
no  attention.  He  found  that  the  observance 
of  the  sabbath  had  become  a  superstition. 
Religious  people,  instead  of  concerning 
258 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

themselves  with  securing  the  rest  and  recre- 
ation which  belonged  to  the  original  inten- 
tion of  the  day,  were  exalting  the  day  itself 
into  a  place  of  artificial  sanctity,  and  were 
entirely  intent  on  the  obedience  of  the  regu- 
lations which  they  had  invented.  He  re- 
turned, both  by  precept  and  by  example,  to 
the  simplicity  and  philanthropy  of  the 
fourth  commandment.  Two  of  His  sayings 
contain  the  principles  of  His  observance  of 
the  sabbath.  He  said,  ^'It  is  lawful  to  do 
good  on  the  sabbath  day"  (Matth.  12:  12). 
And  He  said,  ^The  sabbath  was  made  for 
man,  and  not  man  for  the  sabbath"  (Mark 
2:27).  Thus  He  proclaimed  anew  the 
sabbath  as  a  friendly  day.  The  heart  of  it 
is  kindness  and  brotherliness,  a  considerate 
and  helpful  spirit,  an  extension  of  happi- 
ness, a  contribution  to  the  pleasantness  of 
life,  a  ministry  to  the  physical  and  social 
welfare  of  man.  Man  is  not  to  be  forced 
into  hard  and  formal  observances  as  if  there 
were  a  virtue  in  a  prescribed  keeping  of  a 
259 


'T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

holy  day;  the  day  is  to  be  freely  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  man,  and  made  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  rest  and  recreation. 

When,  therefore,  the  question  of  Sunday 
play  is  intelligently  referred  to  the  fourth 
commandment  for  decision,  both  the  letter 
of  the  commandment  and  the  Christian  in- 
terpretation of  it  declare  for  the  affirmative. 
So  far  as  the  Bible  is  concerned,  there  is 
no  objection  whatever  to  any  form  of  recre- 
ation which  does  not  interfere  with  rest. 
The  Book  of  Sports,  whose  Sunday  pastimes 
offended  the  Puritans,  was  not  inconsistent 
with  the  laws  of  Moses.  On  the  contrary, 
it  was  in  accord  with  the  true  purpose  of 
the  fourth  commandment,  which  is  to  in- 
crease the  happiness  of  society,  to  protect 
men  from  the  oppression  of  wealth  and 
power,  to  bring  the  privilege  of  leisure  into 
the  lives  even  of  the  poorest,  and  to  keep 
religion  in  close  connection  with  human 
welfare.  The  commandment  might  be 
cited  against  great  base-ball  games  and  the- 
260 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

aters  and  excursions  on  Sunday,  on  the 
ground  that  they  compel  the  labor  of  large 
numbers  of  attendants,  players,  conductors 
and  motormen.  Though,  even  in  these 
cases,  it  might  be  argued  that  the  labor 
which  is  necessary  to  provide  good  pleasure 
for  the  people  is  not  against  the  intention 
of  the  law.  If  the  theaters,  for  example, 
were  honestly  a  benefit  to  the  people,  offer- 
ing an  amusement  which  on  the  whole  is 
innocent  and  helpful,  they  would  belong 
with  the  libraries,  the  picture  galleries  and 
the  concerts  of  good  music,  as  excellent 
features  of  a  Christian  Sunday.  Under  the 
most  cautious  construction  the  command- 
ment can  hardly  be  read  as  prohibiting  the 
games  of  children.  So  far  as  the  command- 
ment goes,  Sunday  is  a  play  day.  The  only 
thing  which  is  distinctly  forbidden  is  what- 
ever turns  it  into  a  work  day. 

Children  play  by  nature.     They  are  made 
that  way.     Thus  it  is  that  they  grow,  and 
express  themselves.     If  they  may  not  play 
261 


T'he  draining  of  Childreji  in  Keligion 

on  Sunday,  the  holy  day  is  changed  from 
a  festival  to  a  fast.  Its  true  purpose  is  con- 
tradicted. Quite  apart  from  the  command- 
ment, it  would  seem  unwise  to  do  anything 
to  make  the  children  hate  religion.  That 
would  hardly  be  for  the  glory  of  God.  It 
would  be  a  misfortune  to  have  the  children 
associate  religion  with  gloom,  and  awful 
silence,  and  constrained  sobriety,  and  dull- 
ness. The  experiment  has  been  fairly  tried, 
and  it  has  resulted  as  anybody  really 
acquainted  with  children  must  have  fore- 
seen. We  are  suffering  to-day  from  the 
after  effects  of  it.  The  day  of  religion  was 
made  a  sort  of  Day  of  Judgment.  The 
mirth,  which  Hosea  associated  with  it,  was 
accounted  sin.  Nobody  might  laugh  aloud 
without  rebuke.  There  was  no  intention  in 
the  minds  of  the  religious  to  make  the  chil- 
dren deliberately  unhappy.  What  was 
done  was  to  leave  the  children  out  of  the 
account.  The  day  was  ordered  according 
to  the  spiritual  aspirations  of  mature  per- 
262 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

sons,  to  whom  it  was  actually  a  joy.  They 
loved  to  go  to  church,  and  read  their  Bibles, 
and  be  quiet.  To  this  situation  the  children 
were  made  to  conform  themselves.  They 
were  directed  to  behave  as  if  they  were  fifty 
years  of  age.  Of  course,  they  hated  it;  and 
of  course  some  of  them  hated  the  religion 
to  which  the  day  was  devoted.  That  was 
the  inevitable  result  of  so  serious  a  misun- 
derstanding of  childhood. 

Sunday  afternoon  may  profitably  be  de- 
voted to  the  children.  It  is  a  time  for  busy 
parents  to  get  better  acquainted  with  their 
sons  and  daughters.  It  is  an  opportunity 
for  reading  aloud;  in  part  in  the  Bible,  or 
in  some  book  about  the  Bible,  for  direct 
training  in  religion,  but  also  in  some  book 
whose  spiritual  influence  may  be  less  direct, 
but  whose  natural  interest  shall  communi- 
cate a  real  pleasure  to  the  day.  Such  a 
book,  or  series  of  books,  kept  for  Sunday 
afternoons,  will  cause  those  hours  to  be 
looked  forward  to.  The  same  is  true  of 
263 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religio72 

Sunday  games,  not  necessarily  connected  in 
any  way  with  religion,  but  chosen  out  of 
other  games  because  the  children  like  them 
best,  and  reserved  for  Sunday  in  order  to 
help  make  that  the  best  day  of  the  week. 
Sunday  afternoon  is  a  time  for  family 
walking,  for  household  excursions  into  the 
green  country.  Thoreau  said  that  he  be- 
longed to  the  Church  of  the  Sunday  Walk- 
ers. It  is  a  fine  parish, — provided  its  serv- 
ices are  held  on  Sunday  afternoons.  If  in 
the  intervals  of  such  occupation,  the  boys 
want  to  play  ball  and  the  girls  to  play  house, 
why  not?  Let  the  best  toys  be  kept  for  the 
hallowing  of  the  holy  day.  Let  the  sab- 
bath be  called,  in  the  words  of  Isaiah,  "a 
delight."  Let  every  member  of  the  family 
enjoy  it  according  to  his  own  idea  of  joy. 
The  questions  of  the  automobile,  of  the 
golf  course  and  of  the  afternoon  tea  on  Sun- 
day do  not  come  within  the  province  of  my 
present  purpose,  but  they  bring  to  our  atten- 
tion the  fact  that,  of  the  meanings  of  the 
264 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

day,  rest  is  only  one.  The  other  is  re- 
ligion. 

With  the  rise  of  the  Christian  religion, 
leaving  the  Jewish  Church  and  its  ordi- 
nances behind  it,  a  change  took  place  both 
in  the  day  itself  and  in  its  observance.  The 
day  was  changed  from  the  end  of  the  week 
to  the  beginning;  and  while  the  idea  of  rest 
was  brought  over  out  of  the  old  order,  the 
idea  of  religion  was  now  given  an  increased 
importance.  The  name,  the  Lord's  day, 
implies  a  special  devotion  of  the  time  to 
Him.  There  are  glimpses  of  Christians 
assembled  on  that  day  for  divine  service, 
especially  for  the  Holy  Communion.  The 
Christian  day  is  not  for  physical  refresh- 
ment only,  and  not  at  all  for  mere  indolence 
or  for  selfish  relaxation,  but  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  spiritual  life,  for  the  good  of 
the  soul. 

This  introduces  another  standard  of  judg- 
ment as  to  what  may  and  may  not  be  done 
on  Sunday.  Everything  is  appropriate  to 
265 


'T'Jie  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

the  Christian  festival  which  is  truly  in  the 
direction  of  religious  or  better  living. 
Everything  is  out  of  keeping  w^ith  it  which 
belongs  only  to  the  material  side  of  life,  or 
which  leaves  people  worse  instead  of  better. 
It  is  a  day  for  attendance  at  the  churches, 
in  order  to  make  use  individually  of  the 
means  of  grace,  and  in  order  to  make  a  con- 
tribution socially  to  the  strength  and  im- 
petus of  the  great  forces  which  are  directed 
to  the  bringing  in  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Religion  is  thus  made  of  such  importance 
in  the  life  of  the  people  as  to  warrant  the 
setting  apart  of  one  day  in  every  week  for 
the  sake  of  it.  One  day  in  every  seven,  men 
and  women  shall  be  set  free  from  their  cus- 
tomary duties,  and  children  shall  be  dis- 
missed from  school,  that  they  may  have 
opportunity  to  make  use  of  the  privileges 
of  the  church.  No  other  institution  is  given 
such  a  right  of  way. 

Accordingly,    on    Sunday    morning   the 
children  are  to  be  taken  to  church.     It  is 
266 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

true  that  there  is  the  peril  of  having  the 
children  disturb  the  service,  and  annoy  the 
congregation ;  and  there  is  also  the  peril  of 
making  the  children  hate  the  service.  But 
if,  in  avoiding  these  dangers,  the  children 
are  left  at  home,  or  are  encouraged  to  con- 
sider the  Sunday-school  a  substitute  for  the 
church,  there  is  a  possibility  that  they  may 
never  begin  to  go.  Perhaps  the  best  thing 
to  do,  in  the  midst  of  these  perplexities,  is 
to  keep  church-going  as  a  special  privilege 
and  reward  for  good  behavior  until  the  age 
of  reasonably  steady  habits.  Then  insist  on 
attendance  at  church  like  attendance  at 
school,  as  a  normal  part  of  decent  living  and 
subject  to  precisely  the  same  excuses.  Com- 
monly, children  who  are  old  enough  to  go 
to  school  are  old  enough  to  go  to  church. 
The  two  introductions  to  a  wider  experience 
may  properly  be  made  at  the  same  period. 
Then  nothing  should  be  allowed  to  keep  the 
child  from  church  which  would  not  validly 
keep  him  from  school.  Thus  the  habit  is 
18  267 


The  T^raming  of  Children  in  Religion 

formed,  and  a  solid  contribution  is  made  to 
the  child's  religious  education. 

It  may  indeed  be  urged  against  the  attend- 
ance of  children  that  the  morning  service 
in  some  churches  has  no  more  regard  for 
their  needs  or  interests  than  the  discipline 
of  the  Puritan  sabbath.  But  there  is  a  gen- 
eral improvement  in  this  respect.  It  is  true 
that  a  Sunday  service  which  consists  of  ten 
minutes  of  "preliminary  exercises,"  and 
fifty  minutes  of  sermon  is  not  adapted  to 
children.  Under  such  conditions,  the  ser- 
mon, with  all  its  length,  rarely  contains  any- 
thing which  is  profitable  for  them.  Its  very 
language  is  unknown  to  them.  They  might 
as  well  be  made  to  attend  a  weekly  lecture 
on  Plato  or  Aristotle.  To  compel  them  to 
keep  still,  not  to  whisper,  not  to  read,  not 
to  sleep  during  such  a  disquisition,  is  a  spe- 
cies of  torture.  And  to  punish  them  be- 
cause they  do  not  behave  properly  is  an 
exercise  of  tyrannical  injustice.  Happily, 
in  most  churches  an  enrichment  of  the  litur- 
268 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

gical  features  of  the  service  is  not  only 
shortening  the  sermon  but  providing  re- 
sponses and  singing  in  which  the  children 
may  join.  Such  a  service  is  varied,  with 
down-sitting  and  up-rising,  and  is  con- 
structed according  to  some  understanding 
of  human  nature,  the  human  nature  not  only 
of  youth  but  of  maturity.  Even  the  chil- 
dren are  not  wearied. 

If  a  choice  must  be  made  between  the 
church  and  the  Sunday-school,  on  the 
ground  that  the  two  together  are  too  long 
and  wearisome,  a  wise  preference  will  prob- 
ably select  the  church.  In  that  case,  special 
attention  will  need  to  be  made  to  the  in- 
struction of  the  children  at  home.  One  of 
the  unedifying  sights  of  our  Christian  Sun- 
day is  the  spectacle  of  troops  of  children, 
dismissed  from  the  church  school,  passing 
the  church  door  to  spend  the  rest  of  the  day 
idly.  It  is  a  prophecy  of  a  coming  genera- 
tion of  non-churchgoers.  The  habit  of 
church  attendance,  which  counts  for  so 
269 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

much  in  the  orderly  religious  life,  is  thus 
omitted.  The  boys  and  girls  do  not  begin 
to  go  to  church.  Then  when  they  get 
through  the  Sunday-school,  in  the  midst  of 
their  teens,  they  are  likely  to  turn  their 
backs  upon  the  whole  system  of  organized 
religion.  To  this  result,  such  training 
leads. 

Properly,  the  Sunday-school  should  be  a 
preparation  for  the  church.  The  children 
should  there  be  instructed  to  take  part  in- 
telligently in  the  church  services.  They 
should  learn  there  the  words  and  music  of 
the  hymns  which  the  congregation  sing. 
There  is  opportunity,  indeed,  among  the 
younger  children  for  the  singing  of  hymns 
which  are  juvenile  in  their  expression  and 
which  set  forth  the  appropriate  emotions  of 
early  childhood.  But  the  older  children 
are  to  learn  the  classic  poetry  of  the  hymnal 
just  as  they  learn  in  the  day  school  the  classic 
poetry  of  the  great  masters.  Some  of  it  will 
far  exceed  their  present  experience,  but  no 
270 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

more  so  than  the  lines  of  Milton  and  Shake- 
speare, no  more  so  than  the  Psalms.  They 
will  get  enough  for  present  use,  and  will 
store  up  treasures  for  the  time  to  come. 
And  in  the  church,  they  will  be  able  to 
take  part  with  their  elders. 

The  Sunday-school,  however,  is  no  fair 
substitute  for  the  church.  It  gives  but  little 
time  to  the  great  religious  exercise  of  wor- 
ship, and  it  makes  no  place  for  the  sacra- 
mental side  of  the  spiritual  life.  It  does 
not  bring  the  child  into  accord  with  the 
ancient,  venerable  and  universal  expression 
of  corporate  devotion.  It  does  not  initiate 
him  into  that  society  in  which  he  should 
have  his  membership  all  the  rest  of  his  life. 
It  does  not  put  him  where  he  ought  to  be, 
and  start  him  right. 

We  probably  underestimate  both  the  en- 
durance and  the  interest  of  children.  No 
doubt,  our  forefathers  demanded  somewhat 
too  much,  with  their  protracted  prayers  and 
sermons  and  their  two  Sunday-schools,  one 
271 


T^he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

in  the  morning  and  the  other  in  the  after- 
noon. We  are  in  danger  of  going  to  the 
extreme  of  over-anxiety  as  to  the  children's 
comfort.  They  seem  to  get  along  pjetty 
well  with  a  good  measure  of  time  on  week 
days  at  their  schools.  What  is  asked  on 
Sunday  is  after  all  not  excessive.  The  Sun- 
day-school lasts  an  hour,  and  the  morning 
service  rarely  exceeds  an  hour  and  a  half 
and  is  often  shorter  than  that.  It  is  true 
that  at  times  most  normal  children  rebel 
against  both  of  these  forms  of  confinement 
in-doors.  The  best  plan  is  to  deal  with 
their  feeling  about  the  church  as  we  deal 
with  their  feeling  about  the  school.  We 
make  them  go  to  school,  whether  they  like 
it  or  not.  Sometimes  they  hate  the  school, 
but  they  almost  always  come  presently  into 
the  right  mind  about  it,  and  are  grateful  for 
the  discipline.  They  may,  on  unusually 
pleasant  Sundays,  hate  the  church.  No 
matter.  If  they  are  easily  permitted  to  stay 
at  home,  they  will  despise  it;  and  that  is 
272 


Sunday  and  the  Children 

worse.     A  little  wholesome  temporary  re- 
bellion is  better  than  contempt. 

As  the  holy  day  draws  to  a  close,  the 
Christian  family  may  sing  together  the  great 
hymns.  Father  and  mother  and  children 
may  unite  in  this  expression  of  penitence  or 
prayer  or  praise.  Most  persons  who  are  in 
good  health  and  spirits  like  to  sing.  Much 
is  lost  out  of  life,  both  domestic  and  re- 
ligious, when  the  cares  of  this  world  or  the 
deceitfulness  of  riches  or  any  other  hinder- 
ing distraction  is  permitted  to  interfere  with 
this  hallowing  of  the  day.  Thus  the  sun 
sets  upon  a  festival  in  which  both  rest  and 
religion  have  contributed  to  the  joy  of  life, 
to  the  upbuilding  of  character,  and  to  the 
glory  of  God.  Such  a  day  kept  holy  sweet- 
ens the  domestic  temper,  elevates  the  domes- 
tic ideals,  brings  parents  and  children  closer 
together,  and  is  a  blessing  to  the  family. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CHILDREN 

^^^s^HE  relation  between  church  attend- 
^^  )  ance  and  church  membership  may 
be  roughly  compared  to  the  differ- 
ence between  reading  the  papers  and  going 
to  the  polls.  The  political  news  contained 
in  the  papers  is  like  the  religious  instruc- 
tion contained  in  the  sermons.  But  the  pur- 
pose of  both  the  editor  and  the  preacher  is 
to  get  people  to  perform  the  duties  of  mem- 
bership. Even  the  virtue  of  individual 
good  behavior,  excellent  as  it  is  in  both 
cases,  is  not  enough.  What  is  needed  is  an 
active  combination  of  well-behaved  persons 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  common  wel- 
fare. The  newspaper  reader  ought  to  take 
an  effective  part  in  the  politics  of  his  com- 
munity by  belonging  to  the  political  organi- 
274 


The  Church  and  the  Children 


zation,  and  the  church  attendant  ought  to 
take  a  like  effective  share  in  the  religion  of 
his  community  by  belonging  to  the  religious 
organization.  It  is  a  matter  of  some  im- 
portance whether  a  citizen  be  a  Republican 
or  a  Democrat,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  some 
importance  whether  a  Christian  be  a  Pres- 
byterian or  a  Methodist.  But  these  are 
matters  of  subordinate  detail.  The  essen- 
tial thing  is  membership  somewhere. 
Something  is  the  matter  with  the  man  who 
is  not  registered  on  the  list  of  voters  in  his 
town,  and  something  is  the  matter  with  the 
man  whose  name  does  not  appear  in  the 
list  of  members  of  some  church.  Our  boys 
are  to  be  trained  to  enter  fully  into  all  the 
privileges  and  responsibilities  of  the  cor- 
porate life. 

The  church,  in  all  its  many — too  many — 
varieties,  is  the  community  organized  for 
purposes  of  religious  activity.  It  thus 
offers  to  the  individual  the  opportunity  of 
identification  and  of  combination. 
275 


'T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

By  membership  in  the  church,  the  indi- 
vidual identifies  himself  with  a  certain 
company  of  people,  and  with  the  causes  in 
which  they  are  engaged  and  the  spirit  by 
which  they  are  animated.  Thus  he  is 
mightily  assisted  by  one  of  the  most  potent 
of  all  influences,  the  influence  of  expecta- 
tion. One  of  the  chief  causes  of  difference 
between  people  is  the  different  expectations 
which  surround  them.  In  some  localities 
people  are  expected  to  be  clean,  well-man- 
nered, polite,  considerate  and  sober.  In 
such  places  it  is  rather  more  easy  to  live  in 
accordance  with  this  public  opinion  than 
not.  Not  to  be  clean,  not  to  be  sober,  in- 
volves a  revolt  against  the  common  condi- 
tions, and  demands  a  distinct  decision  to  be 
different  from  one's  neighbors.  They  who 
live  surrounded  by  such  an  expectation  are 
thereby  strengthened  against  the  assaults  of 
the  devil.  They  are  protected  from  many 
temptations.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
localities  where  the  common  expectation  is 
276 


T'he  Church  and  the  Children 

quite  different.  The  general  sentiment  runs 
so  strongly  against  good  grammar,  to  take 
a  minor  detail,  that  nobody  can  speak  gram- 
matically in  that  neighborhood  without  ap- 
pearing eccentric  or  affected.  And  the 
same  sentiment  influences  not  only  the  man- 
ner but  the  matter  of  one's  speech.  It  ex- 
tends also  to  behavior.  In  China,  for 
example,  nobody  is  tempted  to  get  drunk  in 
the  daytime,  for  the  whole  public  opinion 
of  the  nation  is  against  it.  In  order  to  get 
drunk  in  the  daytime,  a  man  must  delib- 
erately violate  the  settled  proprieties,  and 
expose  himself  to  the  derision  and  dislike  of 
all  his  acquaintance.  It  makes  China  a 
sober  nation,  in  the  daytime. 

These  illustrations  confirm  the  obvious 
fact  that  character  is  tremendously  deter- 
mined by  our  choice  of  a  locality  in  which 
to  live, — if  we  are  able  to  make  such  a 
choice, — by  our  selection  of  associates,  and 
in  general  by  our  environment  of  expecta- 
tion. We  desire  that  our  children  shall 
277 


T^he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

have  such  companions  as  shall  reinforce  all 
the  good  counsel  which  we  have  given  them 
at  home.  We  would  have  them  live  under 
such  conditions  that  goodness  shall  be  a 
matter  of  common  acceptation,  a  habit,  a 
thing  understood  and  taken  for  granted. 
Reform,  when  such  a  radical  change  be- 
comes necessary,  is  greatly  assisted  by  an 
accompanying  change  of  associations. 
Young  people  who  are  going  the  wrong  way 
are  saved  by  sharply  severing  themselves 
from  their  misleading  friends  and  openly 
entering  into  new  and  altogether  different 
relations.  And  there  is  no  need  of  such  a 
difficult  discipline  if  the  right  relations  are 
entered  into  early,  and  thereafter  contin- 
ually maintained. 

The  church  represents  this  helpful  asso- 
ciation. To  belong  to  it  is  to  surround 
oneself  with  the  environment  of  right  ex- 
pectation. It  is  to  make  it  easier  to  be  good 
than  to  be  bad.  It  is  a  deliberate  choice  of 
helpful  companions.  It  is  a  reinforcement 
278 


l^he  Church  ai^d  the  Childreft 

of  the  will.  We  who  know  by  a  somewhat 
long  experience  how  hard  it  is  to  do  right 
and  be  right,  wish  in  consequence  to  give 
our  children  all  possible  assistance.  And 
for  the  furtherance  of  this  purpose,  here  is 
the  church,  an  organized  environment  of 
good  expectation,  a  definite  exercise  of  the 
influence  of  public  opinion.  If  our  chil- 
dren belong  to  it,  they  are  not  only  brought 
into  the  circle  of  those  whose  standards  are 
high,  but  they  are  defended  against  many 
temptations.  When  the  temptation  comes, 
they  say,  "If  I  do  this,  I  lose  at  once  not 
only  my  own  self-respect,  but  the  respect 
and  regard  of  most  of  the  people  whom  I 
know.  For  the  pleasure  which  you  offer,  I 
must  pay  a  price  which  involves  most  of 
the  substantial  pleasures  of  my  life.  I  must 
amaze  my  friends.  I  must  make  myself  an 
eccentric  exception  among  my  associates.  I 
must  flatly  contradict  that  for  which  I  claim 
to  stand."  That  is  what  we  desire  to  have 
our  children  say  in  their  souls,  when  they 
279 


'T'he  'draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

must  make  their  decisions  for  or  against  the 
right.  And  if  we  bring  them  into  the 
membership  of  the  church,  we  make  that 
argument  natural  and  convincing. 

And  the  church  represents  not  only  iden- 
tification but  combination.  After  all,  the 
main  purpose  of  a  good  life  is  not  to  pre- 
serve one's  goodness  but  to  make  it  useful 
and  effective.  That  is  the  best  way  to  pre- 
serve it.  The  defensive  side  plays  the  los- 
ing game.  "Which  will  win?"  says  one  by- 
stander to  another,  as  the  football  game 
begins.  "Which  will  win,  the  crimson  or 
the  blue?"  "The  blue,"  answers  the  other 
instantly,  "for,  don't  you  see,  the  crimson 
side  is  playing  to  keep  the  blue  from  scor- 
ing, while  the  blue  is  playing  to  score?" 
The  advantage  in  football,  in  politics,  in 
reform,  in  war,  is  always  with  the  attack. 
The  positive  side,  the  aggressive  side,  they 
who  are  intent  on  getting  something  done, 
win.  Their  strength  is  magnified  by  their 
position. 

280 


'T'he  Church  and  the  Children 

Our  prayers  for  the  good  character  of 
our  children  will  be  answered  like  the  de- 
sire of  the  farmer  for  the  harvest.  The 
farmer  puts  the  seed  into  such  conditions  as 
shall  minister  to  its  growth.  That  is  all 
that  he  can  do.  So  far  as  he  is  able  he 
determines  the  conditions;  then  the  seed 
grows.  Children  grow  in  religion  not  by 
emphasis  on  habits  of  introspection,  and  not 
by  being  hedged  about  with  protection  or 
limitation,  but  by  being  brought  into  defi- 
nite religious  activity.  They  need  aggres- 
sive goodness.  Thus  contagious  diseases 
are  much  more  readily  caught  by  anxious 
persons,  who  are  merely  passive  and  afraid, 
than  by  doctors  and  nurses  who  are  engaged 
in  contending  with  the  contagion.  There 
is  a  certain  measure  of  psychological  im- 
munity. And  it  holds  true  in  the  contagion 
of  evil.  The  strongest  assurance  we  can 
have  of  the  substantial  goodness  of  our  chil- 
dren is  attained  when  we  find  them  trying 
not  merely  to  be  good  but  to  do  good.  The 
281 


T'he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

interior  fight  against  sin  will  go  on  well 
when  it  is  but  a  skirmish  in  a  great  war 
against  the  devil  in  the  world. 

For  service  in  this  war,  the  church  offers 
immediate  occupation.  The  true  church  is 
a  combination  of  individuals  for  better 
social  progress.  If  that  is  not  true  of  the 
local  parish,  then  the  parish  needs  active 
reformation.  It  needs  to  be  set  to  work. 
But  commonly  to.-day  it  is  working  hard 
already.  It  is  undertaking  the  improve- 
ment of  the  community.  This  is  a  matter 
which  can  be  effected  only  by  organization. 
The  fact  that  there  are  neighborhoods  in 
which  the  atmosphere  of  expectation  is  such 
that  it  is  much  more  easy  there  to  be  bad 
than  good,  is  evidence  that  the  difficulty 
lies  not  in  weakness  of  individual  endeavor 
but  in  the  strength  of  social  forces  and  con- 
ditions. To  change  these  forces  and  con- 
ditions is  beyond  the  power  of  any  number 
of  isolated  individuals.  The  situation  calls 
for  collective  action.  The  influences  of 
282 


T'he  Church  and  the  Children 

evil   are  organized,   and  the  influences  of 
good  must  be  organized  to  meet  them. 

By  membership  in  the  church,  children 
are  put  in  the  way  of  these  good  works. 
They  are  given  something  definite  to  do. 
Belonging  to  the  church,  they  belong  nat- 
urally to  societies  within  the  church  for 
missionary  purposes,  for  philanthropic 
endeavor,  for  the  sharing  of  their  privileges 
with  others  less  privileged.  The  parish 
house,  in  many  places,  is  a  center  of  such 
beneficent  activity.  Children  who  are  not 
ready  by  reason  of  youth  to  engage  in  the 
work  of  definite  organizations  for  moral  or 
political  reform,  are  here  given  tasks  level 
with  their  ability  and  congenial  with  their 
interests.  They  begin  to  work  with  others 
for  the  common  good.  They  learn  how. 
They  get  the  habit.  And  they  make  their 
contribution  to  that  general  advance  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  which  is  helped  by  every 
little  efifort  when  it  is  added  to  a  hundred 
other  little  efforts. 

19  283 


""The  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

The  normal  rite  of  initiation  into  the 
membership  of  the  Christian  Church  is  the 
sacrament  of  baptism.  This  was  originally 
intended  for  adult  persons.  It  was  accord- 
ingly preceded  by  a  declaration  of  repent- 
ance and  of  faith.  Standing  in  the  water, 
the  new  disciple  turned  to  the  west  and  re- 
nounced the  devil,  he  then  turned  to  the 
east  and  recited  the  Creed.  That  is,  he  pro- 
claimed openly  his  determination  to  for- 
sake the  sins  and  offenses  of  his  previous 
life,  and  declared  his  allegiance  to  those 
truths  concerning  God  and  the  world 
whereby  he  purposed  to  live  anew  and  bet- 
ter. All  the  clear  indications  of  the  New 
Testament  reveal  the  sacrament  of  baptism 
as  an  initiation  not  of  children  but  of  their 
parents  into  the  church. 

The  extension  of  this  privilege  to  chil- 
dren was  in  defiance  of  both  tradition  and 
authority.  When  the  consistent  reasoners 
of  the  Reformation  took  it  away  from  chil- 
dren on  the  ground  that  it  was  neither  com- 
284 


T'he  Church  and  the  Children 

manded  nor  commended  in  the  Bible  they 
were  quite  right.  They  were  in  error,  how- 
ever, in  thinking  that  it  had  been  instituted 
by  the  priests.  They  were  in  pursuit  of 
everything  priestly,  and  when  they  found  it 
they  did  their  best  to  destroy  it.  But  the 
custom  of  making  children  members  of  the 
church  arose  in  defiance  of  the  priests.  It 
was  demanded  by  the  laity.  The  priests 
urged  in  vain  that  baptism  was  only  for  per- 
sons who  could  make  ready  for  it  by  faith 
and  repentance.  The  people  refused  to 
have  an  adult  church.  They  insisted  that 
the  Christian  society  should  be  as  inclusive 
as  human  nature  itself,  and  should  set  no 
barriers  against  race  or  social  condition  or 
sex  or  age.  When  they  came  in,  they  would 
bring  their  children  with  them.  In  the 
midst  of  the  hostile  world  in  which  they 
lived,  the  church,  they  felt,  was  like  a 
fortress  in  a  beleaguered  land.  To  this 
fortress  they  came  for  safety,  but  they  would 
not  leave  their  little  ones  outside  the  gate. 
285 


V 


T'he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

When  the  officers  of  the  garrison  said,  ''It 
is  not  safe  to  take  these  children  in ;  who 
can  tell  but  that  they  may  presently  be 
found  on  the  side  of  the  devil  against  whom 
we  are  fighting?"  there  were  good  people 
in  the  fort  who  said,  "We  will  look  out 
for  that;  we  will  be  their  sponsors." 

The  baptism  of  infants,  then,  became  the 
common  custom  of  the  church  quite  apart 
from  any  interpretation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  against  the  will  of  strict  eccle- 
siastical authority,  at  the  demand  of  affec- 
tion, because  the  fathers  and  mothers 
wanted  it.  Resting  on  this  substantial 
foundation  in  human  nature,  it  has  success- 
fully resisted  all  the  unanswerable  argu- 
ments which  are  based  on  the  reading  of 
I  texts  of  Scripture.  Those  arguments  ap- 
peal, indeed,  to  logical  minds,  and  adult 
churches  are  founded  in  consequence  of 
them,  but  for  the  most  part  the  logic  of 
human  affection  sets  at  naught  the  reason- 
ing of  the  commentators. 
286 


^ 


T^he  Church  and  the  Children 

The  change  from  adult  to  infant  mem- 
bership in  the  church  divided  the  original 
service  of  baptism  into  two  parts.  The 
baptism  was  made  a  service  by  itself,  and 
the  confession  of  faith  and  repentance  was 
postponed  to  make  a  later  service  by  itself. 
This  later  service,  which  is  universal  in  the 
churches  where  infants  are  baptized,  is 
called  by  many  names,  among  which  a 
common  and  convenient  title  is  confirma- 
tion. The  time  of  life  contemplated  in  this 
book  extends  from  one  to  the  other  of  the 
rites  whereby  the  fact  of  church  member- 
ship is  begun  and  completed:  from  baptism 
in  infancy  to  confirmation  about  the  age  of  U 
fifteen  years. 

The  value  of  the  baptism  of  children  as 
a  part  of  their  training  in  religion  may  be 
expressed  in  terms  of  life  or  in  terms  of 
loyalty.  When  it  is  expressed  in  terms  of 
life,  the  natural  figure  is  that  of  the  graft- 
ing of  a  branch  into  a  tree:  the  life  of  the 
tree  gives  life  to  the  branch;  out  of  the  tree 
287 


T^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

into  the  branch  flows  vitality  and  strength. 
Thus  baptism  is  a  realization  of  our  Lord's 
words,  "I  am  the  vine,  ye  are  the  branches." 
Whether  by  act,  the  child  being  by  baptism 
made  a  member  of  Christ,  as  the  grafted 
twig  is  made  a  part  of  the  stem ;  or  by  asser- 
tion, the  eternal  relation  of  the  child  to 
Christ  being  recognized  and  affirmed  in 
baptism;  the  essential  thing  is  the  divine 
association  accomplished  or  asserted.  The 
child  who  by  natural  birth  is  made  par- 
taker of  the  physical  life,  by  spiritual  birth 
is  made  partaker  of  the  divine  life.  He 
is  a  member  of  Christ,  the  child  of  God, 
and  an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
This  privilege  involves,  of  course,  no  in- 
terior change.  Nothing  happens  in  the 
heart  of  the  child  when  the  water  of  bap- 
tism is  poured  upon  his  head.  The  change 
which  is  involved  or  declared  is  one  of  en- 
vironment. Out  of  the  influences  of  the 
secular  world,  the  child  is  brought  into  the 
influences  of  the  church.  All  the  defini- 
288 


T'he  Church  and  the  Children 

tions  of  the  rite  are  but  synonymns  of  the 
statement  that  by  baptism  he  is  made  a 
member  of  the  church.  That  is  precisely 
what  takes  place.  That  is  what  baptism  is : 
it  is  the  rite  of  initiation  into  the  church. 
But  this  involves  so  much,  brings  to  bear 
upon  the  child  influences  so  potent  and 
opens  into  so  new  a  life,  that  the  poetic  and 
symbolic  word  '^ regeneration"  is  a  fair  ex- 
pression of  it.  Like  adoption  into  a  fam- 
ily, it  is  a  new  birth. 

The  moral  values  of  the  baptism  of  chil- 
dren may  also  be  stated  in  terms  of  loyalty. 
They  may  be  reminded  on  occasion  that 
they  belong  to  the  most  ancient  and  im- 
portant of  societies,  and  they  must  keep 
themselves  worthy  of  the  privilege  of  mem- 
bership. They  must  heed  the  old  appeal 
of  noblesse  oblige.  All  the  true  pride  of 
family,  of  country,  of  fellowship  must  be 
brought  into  application  to  the  duties  which 
are  demanded  by  the  holy  church.  There 
are  ancient  stories  of  martyrdom  which 
289 


T^he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

show  what  not  only  men  and  women  but 
even  children  were  glad  and  eager  to  en- 
dure for  the  sake  of  Christ.  The  boys  and 
girls  of  Lyons  in  the  days  of  Pothinus  and 
Ponticus,  the  boys  and  girls  of  Carthage  in 
the  days  of  Perpetua,  are  inspiring  exam- 
ples. Walter  Pater,  near  the  end  of 
''Marius  the  Epicurean,"  tells  the  first  story 
as  it  was  told  in  the  wonderful  letter  which 
the  faithful  at  Lyons  sent  to  their  brethren 
of  other  cities.  The  second  story,  also  by 
contemporary  hands,  is  at  the  end  of  the 
third  volume  of  the  Ante-Nicene  Fathers, 
as  published  by  Scribners.  These  narra- 
tives of  courage  and  faith  and  endurance 
illustrate  the  words  of  the  baptismal  service 
where  the  forehead  is  signed  with  the  sign 
of  the  cross,  ''in  token  that  hereafter  he  shall 
not  be  ashamed  to  confess  the  faith  of 
Christ  crucified,  and  manfully  to  fight  un- 
der His  banner  against  sin,  the  world  and 
the  devil;  and  to  continue  Christ's  faithful 
soldier  and  servant  unto  his  life's  end." 
290 


T'he  Church  and  the  Children 

All  the  loyalty  of  knights  and  soldiers  is 
to  be  brought  into  Christ's  service.  King 
Arthur  and  his  Table  Round,  the  valor  of 
Tristram,  the  courtesy  of  Launcelot,  the 
purity  of  Galahad,  as  they  are  set  forth  by 
Howard  Pyle  in  his  splendid  series  of  re- 
tellings of  the  old  romances, — these  are 
heroes  of  a  company  into  w^hich  the  bap- 
tized child  is  admitted  by  his  baptism.  He 
is  a  page  in  this  chivalric  order,  and  by  and 
by,  in  confirmation,  he  is  to  become  a 
knight.  The  moral  implications  of  knight- 
hood are  to  be  pointed  out;  the  exaltation 
of  kindness  and  fairness  and  consideration 
over  all  the  might  of  physical  prow^ess,  and 
the  necessity  of  a  pure  heart  in  order  to 
achieve  the  great  quest  of  the  Grail,  are 
to  be  emphasized.  The  invincible  admira- 
tion of  the  child  for  the  soldier  is  to  be  used. 
All  the  glory  of  the  soldier's  bravery,  all 
the  ignominy  of  the  soldier's  cow^ardice  or 
treachery,  are  now  possible  to  the  child  who 
by  baptism  is  a  soldier  of  the  cross.  Every 
291 


T'he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

day  he  fights  or  runs  away;  every  day  he 
encounters  an  assault  of  the  devil  and  wins 
or  loses.  Whenever  temptation  comes  to 
tell  a  lie,  to  speak  an  unclean  word,  to  strike 
an  unfair  blow,  the  fight  is  on,  and  the  re- 
sult shows  what  sort  of  a  soldier  he  is.  He 
is  fortified  and  reinforced  and  armed  by 
these  suggestions  which  depend  upon  the 
fact  of  baptism.  The  appeal  is  to  his  loy- 
alty, to  his  courage,  to  his  finest  qualities; 
and  he  is  sensitive  to  it.  He  will  do  as  a 
knight  or  a  soldier  that  to  which  no  moral 
proposition  or  lesson  in  ethics  will  ever 
bring  him.  The  personal  element  in  the 
Christian  religion, — the  joy  of  following  a 
splendid  leader,  the  instinct  of  stout  con- 
tention for  such  a  leader's  sake  against  an 
enemy, — this  is  made  definitely  available 
by  the  fact  of  initiation  by  baptism  into  the 
society  of  Christ. 

The  age  at  which  the  Christian  appren- 
ticeship comes  to  an  end  and  the  Christian 
mastery  begins,  differs  in  different  children. 
292 


T'he  Church  and  the  X^hildren 

Under  the  conditions  of  a  sheltered  and  de- 
pendent life,  children  mature  later,  and  are 
still  boys  and  girls  at  an  age  when  their 
grandparents  were  men  and  women.  There 
is  therefore  a  tendency  to  postpone  that 
public  undertaking  of  the  responsibilities 
of  church  membership  which  is  the  next 
step  after  baptism,  or  in  the  adult  churches 
is  baptism  itself.  A  fair  average,  however, 
sets  the  age  of  fifteen  years  as  a  fitting  time 
for  such  a  step.  Confirmation  much  before 
or  much  after  such  a  date  is  exceptional. 
The  idea  is  that  the  child  should  be  old  ly 
enough  to  understand  in  good  measure 
what  his  promises  mean,  and  should  be 
young  enough  to  make  the  promises  in  time 
to  meet  the  increasing  temptations  of  youth. 
It  is  important  to  present  this  matter  to 
the  child  as  a  perfectly  natural  part  of  the 
progress  of  his  life.  The  college  student 
passes  out  of  college  into  the  independent 
work  which  is  before  him,  and  the  fact  is 
marked  by  the  festival  of  Commencement: 
293 


The  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

Confirmation  corresponds  in  the  life  of  re- 
ligion to  such  an  ending  and  beginning. 
Thus  the  page  enters  by  a  definite  ceremony 
into  the  privilege  of  knighthood.  Thus  the 
youth,  coming  of  age,  is  formally  admitted 
to  the  right  to  vote.  All  these  are  exam- 
ples of  natural  progress.  The  student,  the 
page,  the  youth,  look  forward  eagerly  to  the 
time  w^hen  they  may  attain  that  for  which 
they  have  been  making  ready.  The  com- 
pletion of  the  act  of  joining  the  church  is  a 
similar  fulfillment,  and  should  be  held  be- 
fore children  as  both  natural  and  desirable. 
It  should  seem  to  them  the  normal  thing 
to  do. 

Conversion  means  turning  about,  and  is 
absolutely  necessary  in  the  case  of  those  who 
are  turned  in  the  wrong  direction.  The 
connection  of  repentance  with  the  under- 
taking of  church  membership  indicates  a 
need  of  some  measure  of  conversion  in  all 
people.  There  should  be  a  clear  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  of  sin,  and  a  definite  reso- 
294 


T'he  Church  and  the  Children 

lution  to  put  away  the  wrong  and  do  the 
right.  This,  however,  is  somewhat  differ- 
ent from  the  doctrine  of  conversion  which 
represented  it  as  a  tremendous  spiritual  ex- 
perience. Something  must  happen  to  the 
child,  so  it  was  believed,  akin  to  the  dra- 
matic adventure  of  Saul  on  the  way  to 
Damascus.  There  must  be  a  horror  of 
great  darkness,  out  of  which  gradually,  with 
pain  and  crying,  one  came  at  last  out  of  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  into  the  light 
and  joy  and  life  of  Christian  faith.  This 
teaching  made  a  temperamental  experience 
a  universal  fact.  It  was  a  reality  with 
many  of  those  who  taught  it,  and  they  in- 
ferred, naturally  enough,  that  all  people 
were  like  them,  and  must  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  in  their  way.  The 
truth  is  that  this  entrance  is  over  the  wall 
instead  of  through  the  gate.  It  is  the  hard 
climb  of  those  who  are  out  of  the  way  and 
to  whom  the  open  gate  is  unaccessible,  or 
who  are  by  nature  fond  of  climbing  and 
295 


T'he  Training  of  Childre?i  in  Religion 

prefer  the  wall  to  the  gate  because  of  its 
difficulty.  The  entrance  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  is  as  natural  as  walking.  For 
children  who  have  been  nurtured  in  a 
N'  Christian  home,  and  who  have  grown  up 
in  the  admonition  of  the  Lord,  no  spiritual 
catastrophe  is  needed.  They  who  have 
never  turned  away  do  not  need  to  turn 
about.     All  they  have  to  do  is  to  go  on. 

Confirmation  is  a  time  for  instruction  and 
for  resolution.  These  are  the  positive 
forms  of  the  faith  and  repentance  which  are 
connected  in  the  Bible  with  the  undertak- 
ing of  church  membership. 

The  child  is  passing  now  out  of  child- 
hood into  youth.  It  is  an  opportunity,  at 
church  and  at  home,  for  a  review  of  the 
religious  training  of  the  previous  years. 
The  time  is  convenient  for  examination, 
and  for  such  correction  and  addition  as 
examination  indicates.  As  the  young  citi- 
zen ought  to  be  instructed  in  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  state  and  his  new  relation  to 
296 


'Die  Church  and  the  Children 

it,  so  ought  the  young  Christian  to  be  in- 
structed in  the  significance  of  the  church 
and  the  new  life  which  he  is  now  to  live. 
Such  teaching  may  begin  with  the  rites  of 
baptism  and  of  confirmation,  including 
their  history,  their  meaning  and  their  ap- 
plication. Then  may  follow  lessons  in 
character,  following  the  suggestions  of 
the  Commandments  and  the  Beatitudes;  in 
the  Creed,  article  by  article,  expounding 
the  Christian  faith;  in  the  Bible,  in  the 
Church;  finally  in  prayer,  private  and  pub- 
lic, ending  with  the  sacrament  to  which 
confirmation  gives  admission,  the  Lord^s 
Supper. 

Also,  the  time  is  to  be  improved  for  reso- 
lution. The  value  of  this  public  announce- 
ment of  one's  religious  position  is  evidenced 
not  only  by  Scripture  but  by  psychology. 
It  is  that  "decided  initiative"  which,  we  arc 
told,  is  essential  to  the  permanence  of  our 
decisions.  It  lays  hold  upon  that  public 
opinion  which,  as  we  saw,  is  a  determining 
297 


^he  T^raining  of  Childrefi  in  Religion 

influence  in  the  formation  of  character.  It 
is  a  mighty  help  to  our  children  when  they 
come  to  stand  up  in  the  presence  of  their 
neighbors  and  companions  and  thus  openly 
assume  the  vows  of  discipleship.  It 
clenches  their  resolution.  It  does  not,  in- 
deed, commit  them  to  perfection.  They 
could  not  undertake  it  on  that  understand- 
ing. But  it  does  commit  them  to  endeavor. 
They  say  publicly  by  this  act,  "I  am  re- 
solved, God  helping  me,  to  live  a  Christian 
life,  to  speak  as  a  Christian,  to  behave  as  a 
Christian,  to  think  as  a  Christian.  Here  is 
where  I  stand.  This  is  what  I  mean  to  do." 
They  are  helped  thereby  to  do  it.  Pres- 
ently, when  they  are  tempted  to  do  evil,  the 
answer  is,  "You  must  think  I  am  a  fool. 
I  was  confirmed  last  week."  The  indiffer- 
ent, the  wavering,  the  half-hearted,  are  like 
a  garrison  divided  against  itself:  they  are 
exposed  to  the  worst  perils  of  attack  and 
defeat.  They  invite  it.  The  youth  who 
says,  not  in  shame  but  with  pride  of  posi- 
298 


^he  Church  and  the  Children 


tion,  ''I  am  a  Christian,  I  am  a  church- 
man," has  the  respect  of  his  neighbors;  like 
the  man  who  speaks  up  in  a  good,  round, 
self-respecting  voice,  and  says,  ^'I  am  an 
Imperialist";  or,  "I  am  a  free-trader";  or, 
'Thank  you,  I  don't  drink."  Confirmation 
is  such  an  out-spoken  announcement,  and  it 
helps  a  youth  to  say  the  same  sort  of  thing 
again  in  private. 

The  distinctive  privilege  of  church  mem- 
bership is  the  right  to  partake  of  the  Holy 
Communion.  Here,  as  with  confirmation, 
emphasis  is  to  be  put  upon  the  place  of  the 
sacrament  in  the  order  of  nature.  The  fes- 
tival of  the  bread  and  wine  is  far  older  than 
the  Christian  institution  of  it  on  the  eve  of 
the  crucifixion.  Something  very  like  it 
was  observed  in  every  Jewish  family  on  the 
eve  of  every  sabbath.  It  was  one  of  the 
pleasant  and  significant  customs  of  the  com- 
mon life.  It  was  an  act  of  thanksgiving 
for  the  providence  of  God  in  the  fruits  of 
the  earth  and  in  all  the  blessings  of  our 
20  299 


T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

lives.  When  it  became  a  Christian  sacra- 
ment, a  whole  new  range  of  associations 
was  added,  but  all  the  old  significance  re- 
mained. The  appearance  of  it  in  the 
religion  of  Mithra,  the  most  widespread 
and  formidable  of  all  the  competitors  of 
Christianity  in  the  Roman  Empire,  indi- 
cates not  that  it  was  imitated  from  the 
Christian  service  but  that  it  had  its  source 
in  the  same  universal  instinct.  From  the 
beginning  of  the  world  the  act  of  eating 
together  has  been  a  natural  symbol  of  com- 
munion both  with  our  neighbors  who  are 
beside  us  and  with  God  Who  is  above  and 
about  us. 

Into  this  most  ancient  and  venerable  of 
rites,  the  new  disciple  is  admitted.  He 
ought  to  be  so  instructed  that  he  shall  come 
gladly,  and  without  fear.  All  that  is  said 
about  it  in  the  Bible  declares  it  as  a  feast 
of  hospitality  and  simplicity,  except  in  one 
place.  St.  Paul  connected  "unworthy" 
coming  to  the  Supper  with  "damnation." 
300 


The  Church  and  the  Children 

And  this  one  note  of  terror  has  overborne 
the  other  voices  of  free  invitation.  But  the 
two  w^ords  need  to  be  defined.  Damnation 
has  no  particular  connection  with  eternal 
punishment.  It  is  not  intended  to  single 
out  unworthy  coming  to  Communion  as  the 
worst  of  transgressions.  The  Revised  Ver- 
sion sets  this  straight.  The  word  is  there 
translated  ^'condemnation."  That  is  what 
it  means.  The  Lord  condemns  the  sin  of 
coming  unworthily  as  He  condemns  the  sin 
of  lying  or  of  coveting.  The  effect  of  the 
sentence  is  simply  to  bring  it  into  the  list 
of  the  sins:  not  to  pronounce  it  the  worst 
of  the  sins.  And  the  word  "unworthy,"  as 
the  whole  context  shows,  refers  not  to  a 
sense  of  our  unworthiness  as  sinners:  we  are 
all,  in  that  sense,  unworthy,  even  to  gather 
up  the  crumbs  under  the  Lord's  table.  The 
reference  is  to  indifference,  to  carelessness, 
to  irreligion,  to  an  approach  to  the  sacra- 
ment without  earnestness  or  devotion. 
There  is  nothing  in  either  word  to  frighten 
301 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

anybody  who  comes  desiring  to  be  better, 
to  overcome  his  sins,  to  get  the  great  help 
of  God. 

The  sacrament  is  for  spiritual  strength. 
It  is  of  this  that  the  bread  and  wine  are  sym- 
bols. Here  our  souls  are  refreshed.  Here 
we  come,  into  this  presence  of  God,  for 
comfort,  for  guidance,  for  protection,  for 
new  courage,  for  new  aspiration.  Here  we 
consecrate  ourselves  anew  to  the  service  of 
Christ.  With  this  sacrament,  the  child 
passes  out  of  childhood  into  new  inde- 
pendence, new  privilege  and  opportunity, 
new  responsibility  and  new  life  in  the 
Church  of  God. 


CHAPTER   XV 
THE  GOOD  CHILD 

"^^^^HE  value  of  religion  is  tested  by 
1  )  its  results  in  character.  When  a 
father  says,  "One  of  my  sons  goes 
to  church  only  once  a  week,  but  I  can  trust 
him ;  another  goes  to  church  every  day,  but 
he  is  the  most  selfish  member  of  my  fam- 
ily," it  is  plain  that  something  is  the  matter 
with  the  religious  son's  religion.  He  seems 
to  go  to  church  for  some  other  purpose  than 
to  increase  in  the  favor  of  God. 

The  true  symbol  of  the  relation  between 
religion  and  character  is  in  the  description 
of  the  Hebrew  temple,  where  the  wor- 
shiper proceeded  from  court  to  court,  from 
altar  to  altar,  along  a  series  of  ascending 
sanctities,  until  he  reached  at  last  the  Holy 
of  Holies,  within  which  beneath  the  wings 
3^3 


T'he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

of  the  golden  seraphim,  was  the  Ark  of  the 
Covenant  which  contained  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments. All  the  worship  culminated 
in  the  consciousness  of  the  will  of  God. 
The  supreme  thing  was  the  moral  law. 

One  of  the  results  of  a  right  training  of 
children  in  religion  is  obedience.  It  is 
enshrined  in  the  Commandments  them- 
selves, and  is  at  the  heart  of  all  good  con- 
duct. It  is  often  made  difficult  for  children 
by  the  complications  which  are  produced 
by  parental  uncertainty.  It  is  sometimes 
forgotten  that  obedience  is  a  virtue  for 
which  the  cooperation  of  two  persons  is 
essential,  one  to  give  the  orders,  the  other 
to  carry  them  out.  The  initial  condition 
is  a  judicious,  firm  and  well-considered  giv- 
ing of  orders.  Nothing  is  so  demoralizing 
to  a  gang  of  workmen  or  to  a  band  of  sol- 
diers as  a  series  of  hasty,  unadvised  and 
contradictory  commands.  With  all  the 
willingness  in  the  world,  the  sense  of  dis- 
trust which  is  thus  awakened  suggests  dis- 
304 


T^he  Good  Child 


obedience.  A  master  of  the  art  of  presid- 
ing over  public  assemblies  said  that  a 
decision  once  made  by  such  an  ofBcer  must 
be  adhered  to  by  him,  even  though  he  sus- 
pects that  he  might  have  been  wiser  if  he 
had  decided  differently.  The  proper  re- 
dress is  for  the  assembly  to  reverse  his  rul- 
ing, not  for  him  to  change  it  with  his  change 
of  mind.  For  an  uncertainty  as  to  the  will 
of  a  moderator  calls  forth  all  the  disorder 
which  he  is  set  to  moderate. 

The  trouble  with  many  children  who 
seem  not  to  know  how  to  obey  is  that  their 
parents  do  not  know  how  to  command.  The 
orders  are  given  hastily,  and  changed  read- 
ily on  petition.  Even  an  unwillingness  to 
obey  is  made  a  sufficient  reason  for  with- 
drawing the  injunction.  Much  of  the  dis- 
cipline of  young  children  is  as  foolish  as 
the  mother  who  says  in  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, Why?  "Because!  And  you  know, 
Johnny,  that  when  mother  says  ^Because,' 
she  means  'Because!'"  The  child  quickly 
305 


^he  draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

perceives  that  the  parental  discipline  has  no 
more  sense  in  it  than  that.  The  disobedi- 
ence which  naturally  ensues  is  a  fair  expres- 
sion of  distrust.  Obedience  begins  with 
respect.  But  respect  is  forfeited  when  it  is 
made  plain  that  the  commands  are  not  intel- 
ligently given. 

Obedience  is  the  initial  virtue.  It  is  a 
difficult  ideal,  like  all  the  good  ideals,  and 
it  calls  for  much  effort  from  both  the  par- 
ents and  the  child.  It  is  important  like  a 
great  stone  in  the  foundation :  if  such  a  stone 
gives  way,  the  wall  above  begins  to  crack. 
All  civic  betterment,  all  progress  of  nations 
and  of  churches,  all  righteousness,  depends 
upon  it.  All  the  safeguards  and  sanctions 
of  religion  are  to  be  brought  about  it.  It 
is  to  be  pointed  out  in  the  lives  of  saints  and 
heroes,  and  enforced  by  precept  upon  pre- 
cept, and  made  a  matter  of  prayer.  It 
begins  with  the  just  and  certain  laws  of  the 
home  and  proceeds  to  the  divine  laws  of 
heaven  and  earth.  It  teaches  the  lesson 
306 


^he  Good  Child 


which  all  the  Scriptures  teach  by  admoni- 
tion, and  which  life  teaches  by  experience, 
sometimes  too  late,  that  goodness  and  hap- 
piness are  bound  up  together.  Not  neces- 
sarily goodness  and  material  happiness,  but 
goodness  and  the  true  and  substantial  satis- 
faction of  life.  It  illustrates  the  rewards 
and  penalties  of  God. 

Children  are  to  be  instructed  that  they  are 
to  obey  their  parents  not  only  because  that 
is  the  desire  of  their  parents  but  because  it 
is  the  will  of  God.  And  they  are  to  be 
shown  how  peace  and  order  and  efficiency 
and  happiness  depend  upon  it  under  all  con- 
ditions, in  families,  in  armies,  and  in  na- 
tions. It  is  one  of  the  universal  principles 
upon  which  the  whole  universe  of  God  is 
ordered.  By  the  help  of  religion,  by  the 
aid  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  church,  as  the 
consequence  of  our  prayers,  we  are  to  do 
the  will  of  God  on  earth  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven,  beginning  in  the  nursery. 

Another  of  the  results  of  a  right  training 
307 


T'he  l^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

in  religion  is  the  grace  of  courtesy.  Obedi- 
ence is  needed  to  make  life  possible,  cour- 
tesy is  needed  to  make  life  pleasant.  It 
takes  the  common  actions,  and  somehow 
adds  to  them  what  music  adds  to  words,  and 
fragrance  adds  to  flowers.  When  Thoreau 
said  that  the  finest  of  acts  is  to  improve  the 
quality  of  the  day,  he  was  thinking  of  some 
such  subtle  thing  as  the  grace  of  courtesy, 
whereby  the  humblest  and  homeliest  actions 
are  dignified  and  ennobled,  like  the  pots 
and  pans  of  the  ideal  Jerusalem,  with 
"Holiness  unto  the  Lord"  engraved  upon 
them. 

For  example,  to  show  mercy,  in  the  sense 
of  being  considerate  of  our  neighbors,  may 
be  a  dull  or  even  offensive  virtue  unless  we 
follow  St.  Paul's  admonition,  and  do  it 
"with  cheerfulness."  And  that  phrase  may 
perhaps  be  taken  as  the  true  formula  of  all 
courtesy.  Courtesy  is  the  grace  which  adds 
to  obedience  the  gleam  of  cheerfulness. 
The  courteous  person  brings  good  cheer 
308 


T!he  Good  Child 


with  him,  smiles  attend  and  follow  him,  and 
the  service  which  he  renders  to  society  is 
the  inestimable  boon  of  changing  all  that 
he  touches  to  the  true  gold  which  shines 
with  happiness.  Thus  St.  Francis  of  Assisi 
spoke  of  the  divine  bounty  whereby  the 
rain  falls  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust,  and 
the  sun  shines  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good, 
as  "the  great  courtesy  of  God."  For  cour- 
tesy is  without  calculation,  and  is  dispensed, 
like  the  heat  of  the  fire,  from  its  own  interior 
warmth.  Obedience  is  a  virtue  like  the 
vegetables,  but  courtesy  is  a  grace  like  the 
flowers.  It  makes  life  brighter  and  pleas- 
anter.  It  affects  the  day  like  the  shining  of 
the  sun.  It  is  in  accord  with  the  good  looks 
of  all  young  children;  for  they  commonly 
begin  good-looking,  till  somehow,  by  reason 
of  our  training  or  the  lack  of  training,  they 
lose  that  bloom  of  the  cheeks  and  that  light 
of  the  eyes  which  they  brought  from  heaven. 
The  presence  of  courtesy  makes  all  people 
akin  in  the  sympathy  of  honest  pleasure, 
309 


T^he  T^raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

like  the  sight  of  a  natural,  human,  smiling 
child. 

Lessons  in  courtesy  begin  with  manners  at 
the  table,  with  the  salutations  of  the  day, 
with  the  acknowledgment  of  thankfulness, 
and  go  on  through  all  sorts  of  considera- 
tion and  unselfish  effacement  and  self-sacri- 
fice to  the  very  heights  of  prayer  and 
praise.  For  religion,  on  its  finer  side,  is 
the  true  courtesy  of  man  towards  God. 
Courtesy  expresses  our  recognition  of  the 
presence  of  others,  and  is  at  its  highest  as 
the  expression  of  our  consciousness  of  the 
presence  of  God.  The  practice  of  it  affects 
the  speech  of  children,  so  that  they  know 
better  than  to  bring  into  their  conversation 
with  their  elders  the  natural  carelessness 
with  which  they  address  their  equals. 
Something  fine  and  wholesome  is  lost  when 
children  speak  boldly  to  their  parents,  with- 
out restraint,  or  evident  respect.  It  is  an 
ofifense  against  the  proprieties,  like  wearing 
one's  hat  in  the  parlor.  It  levels  those 
310 


^he  Good  Child 


social  inequalities  which  dignify  society 
like  mountains  and  valleys. 

The  old  prescription  of  duty, — ''To  love, 
honor  and  succor  my  father  and  mother; 
to  honor  and  obey  the  civil  authority;  to 
submit  myself  to  all  my  governors,  teachers, 
spiritual  pastors  and  masters;  to  order  my- 
self lowly  and  reverently  to  all  my  betters," 
— is  a  securing  of  the  peace  and  happiness 
of  life.  We  all  have  masters  and  betters, 
and  we  desire  to  be  masters  and  betters  our- 
selves to  somebody,  and  the  habit  of  cour- 
tesy provides  that  decent  precedence  which 
is  necessary  to  all  processions  and  to  social 
progress,  whereby  some  step  aside  for  oth- 
ers, and  are  glad  to  do  it. 

Such  courtesy  becomes  naturally  a  rever- 
ence for  places  of  prayer,  for  holy  books, 
for  the  exercises  of  devotion,  for  the  name 
and  presence  of  God.  And  leading  thus 
into  religion,  it  is  nourished  and  strength- 
ened by  religion,  which  teaches  people  not 
to  speak  evil  of  dignities,  and  pronounces 
311 


I'he  T'rainmg  of  Children  iii  Religion 

a  sentence  in  which  human  nature  and 
divinity  meet  when  it  says,  ''He  that  hum- 
bleth  himself  shall  be  exalted."  Religion 
is  the  steady  restraint  and  corrective  of  that 
self-conscious  and  impertinent  childhood 
which  is  one  of  the  most  mortifying  sights 
of  our  contemporary  life.  It  makes  chil- 
dren the  delight  and  adornment  of  the  quiet 
home.  With  it,  they  grow  up  into  unself- 
ish, considerate,  helpful  and  courteous  men 
and  women. 

A  final  and  supreme  result  of  the  train- 
ing of  children  in  religion  is  the  spirit  of 
service.  For  the  love  of  our  neighbor  is 
the  last  of  the  moralities.  The  devout 
writers  of  many  of  the  Psalms  gloried  in 
their  hatred  of  their  enemies.  They  ac- 
counted it  even  a  virtue  to  hate  them  with 
a  perfect  hatred.  And  in  all  religious  con- 
tentions, for  the  faith  and  for  the  church, 
even  in  modern  times,  good  men  have  hated 
their  brethren  for  the  love  of  God.  It  is 
one  of  the  elemental  passions,  and  is  re- 
312 


^he  Good  Child 


strained  with  difficulty  even  by  the  saints. 
When  St.  Paul  said,  "If  thine  enemy  hun- 
ger feed  him,  if  he  thirst  give  him  drink," 
he  revealed  the  spirit  of  service  in  triumph 
over  this  ancient  sin  of  cruelty.  The  attain- 
ment of  a  right  relation  with  our  neighbor 
is  not  by  intellectual  effort,  nor  by  compul- 
sion of  conscience,  but  by  neighborly  serv- 
ice. When  we  do  something  for  him,  in  an 
honest  endeavor  to  help  him,  we  open  the 
door  of  hospitality  to  all  the  graces  of  affec- 
tion. 

And  this  is  true  regarding  the  initial  vice 
out  of  which  all  hatred  grows,  the  vice  of 
selfishness.  When  we  say  that  children  are 
"spoiled,"  this  is  what  we  mean.  They  are 
disobedient  and  discourteous,  they  are  forth- 
putting  and  impertinent,  because  they  are 
selfish.  And  we  know  that  they  are  in  a 
fair  way  to  become  not  only  bad  Christians 
but  bad  citizens.  The  parents  of  the 
spoiled  child  are  a  peril  to  the  state.  They 
are  preparing  to  send  into  the  life  of  the 
2^3 


'T'he  T'raining  of  Children  in  Religion 

community  a  force  as  destructive  as  if  they 
were  teaching  the  child  how  to  make  dyna- 
mite. This  is  the  material  out  of  which  are 
presently  produced  the  manufacturer  who 
is  intent  on  making  the  mill  pay  regardless 
of  the  conditions  under  which  the  men 
work,  and  the  merchant  who  sees  no  rela- 
tion between  wages  and  character,  and  the 
people  in  general  who  are  willing  to  take 
dividends  from  methods  of  business  which 
depreciate  the  human  stock,  and  menace 
both  the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  women  and 
children.  The  spoiled  child  becomes  the 
irresponsible  mother,  and  the  quarrelsome 
father,  a  poisoner  of  the  domestic  cup. 
Some  of  the  pain  of  man  has  its  origin  in 
physical  conditions,  which  we  either  cannot 
change,  or  have  not  yet  learned  how  to 
change.  But  the  greater  part  of  the  pain 
of  human  life  is  social,  and  proceeds 
straight  from  selfishness.  The  selfish  child 
is  already  a  nuisance,  but  he  grows  into  a 
tragedy. 

314 


^he  Good  Child 


Unless  we  stop  it.     This  is  accomplished 
in  part  by  the  teaching  of  religion.     The 
symbol  of  Christianity  is  the  sign  of  self- 
sacrifice,  the  cross.    The  central  idea  of  it 
is  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  for  us  even  to  the 
giving  of  His  life.     For  our  sake,  He  made 
Himself  poor,  endured  difficulties,  faced  all 
enmity,  and  suffered  the  shame  and  pain  of 
crucifixion.     The  persistence  of  selfishness 
among  good  people,  after  all  these  Chris- 
tian centuries,  and  in  spite  of  the  sermon 
in  the  pulpit  and  the  cross  on  the  spire, 
shows  th©  hold  of  this  vice  on  human  na- 
ture.    Even  religion  makes  but  a  hard,  slow 
fight  against  it.     Nevertheless,  the  strength 
of  victory  is  in  religion.     It  is  every  day 
making  selfish  people  less  selfish,  by  the 
appeal  of  the  cross.     One  plain  thing  that 
we  can  do  against  it  in  the  family  is  to  teach 
the  self-sacrifice  of  Christ. 

Another  thing  is  to  add  to  this  teaching 
the  active  practice  of  religion.     Children 
are  to  be  made  unselfish  not  only  by  admo- 
21  315 


^he  "draining  of  Children  in  Religion 

nition  but  by  application.  The  positive 
side  of  service  is  to  be  emphasized.  The 
children  are  to  be  sent  on  errands  of  min- 
istry; they  are  to  do  things  for  the  happi- 
ness first  of  the  household,  then  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. They  are  to  be  brought  up  with 
the  idea  that  the  sight  of  need  is  a  call  for 
ministry.  They  are  to  ask  themselves  in 
every  company,  "What  can  I  do?"  When 
they  come  home  from  some  social  assembly 
with  injured  feelings,  and  the  complaint 
that  they  had  a  stupid  time,  the  proper  ques- 
tion is,  "What  contribution  did  you  make? 
Whose  happiness  did  you  increase?"  In 
the  society  of  well-bred  youth,  every  lad 
starts  instinctively  to  fetch  a  needed  chair. 
He  does  not  wait  to  think.  He  has  acquired 
the  habit  of  service.  To  extend  and  mag- 
nify that,  to  carry  it  beyond  the  minor 
courtesies  of  life  to  all  the  needs  of  our 
neighbors,  is  to  enter  honestly  into  the  prac- 
tice of  religion. 

"Like  as  the  arrows  in  the  hand  of  a 
316 


TA^  Good  Child 


giant,  even  so  are  the  young  children."  It 
expresses  the  extensive  and  incalculable 
importance  of  the  parental  profession.  Our 
work  begins  at  home,  but  to  its  consequences 
there  is  no  end  or  measure.  Whoever  in 
any  humblest  home  trains  up  a  child  in  the 
v^ay  he  should  go,  not  only  secures  the  best 
happiness  of  the  child  but  makes  a  golden 
contribution  to  all  good  causes.  It  is  the 
most  valuable  work  in  the  world.  But  its 
difficulty  is  in  proportion  to  its  value. 
They  who  are  engaged  in  it  need  all  pos- 
sible assistance,  especially  the  assistance  of 
religion. 


INDEX 


Achan,  story  of,  in  illustra- 
tion of  Eighth  Com- 
mandment, 67 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  198 
division  of,  200 

Affection,  human,  as  afford- 
ing analogy  to  divine 
affection,  70 

Ahab,  story  of,  in  illustra- 
tion of  Tenth  Com- 
mandment, 67 

Answers,  ultimate,  insist- 
ence of  childhood 
on,  21 

"Ante-Nicene  Fathers,"  290 

Anthropomorphism,  place 
of,  in  religious  de- 
velopment, 40 

Apostles'  creed,  80 

Approval  of  associates  as  a 
motive  in  conduct,  5 

Arius,  theory  of,  as  to  na- 
ture of  Jesus,  80 

B 

Balaam  and  Balak,  240 
Baptism,  history  of,  284 
value    of,     in    terms     of 
life,  287 
in  terms  of  loyalty,  289 

3 


Beatitudes,  as  part  of  initial 
instruction,  62 
embodiment      of      ethical 
ideals,  6 

Being,  first  three  principles 
of,  50 

Belief,  as  transcendent  form 
of  knowledge,  75 

Bible,  accompanying  instruc- 
tion   in    readings    in, 

211 

as  *  authority  for  confi- 
dence in  fatherhood 
of  God,  57 

conception  of,  as  a  single 
book,  170 

determining  relationship 
of,  to  moral  training 
of  children,  167 

discussion  of  nature  of, 
176 

divisions  of  New  Testa- 
ment narrative  of,  199 

divisions  of  Old  Testa- 
ment narratives  of, 
201 

Everyman's  library  edi- 
tion of,  170 

"for  Young  People,"  196 

19 


Index 


Bible,    history    of    division 
of,  into  verses,  i68 
human  element  in,  i8o 
infallibility  of,  as  religious 

dogma,  173 
invariable    sacredness   of, 
under  attack  of  crit- 
ics, 172 
necessity  of  interpretative 
story-rendition        of, 
for  children,  195 
necessity  of  plan  in  read- 
ings   from,    for   chil- 
dren, 196 
question  of  inerrancy  of, 

176 
readings    in,   attitude   to- 
ward   childish    ques- 
tions on,  212 
for  Sundays,  202ff. 
long,  197 
shorter,  2i4ff. 
Revised  Version   of,    169 
revival  of  interest  in,  175 
unchanging  status  of  au- 
thority of,  181 
Book   of   Common    Prayer, 
III 
selections  from,  for  days 
of  the  week,  i4ff. 
"Book  of  Sports,"  260 
Brooks,  Phillips,  244 


Cain,  story  of,  as  illustra- 
tion of  Sixth  Com- 
mandment, 66 


Character,  as  inspiring  pat- 
tern of  conduct,  27 
as  test  of  value  of  re- 
ligion, 303 
potency  of  example  of, 
in  religious  training, 
117 

China,  as  illustration  of 
Fifth  Commandment, 
66 

Christianity,  as  expression 
of  religious  belief  in 
terms  of  personality, 
73 

Church,    as    expression    of. 
corporate  devotion  of 
community,  271 
attendance  of  children  at, 

266 
psychological       influences 
determining     helpful- 
ness of  attendance  of, 

115 
Church  membership,  as  ex- 
pressing      aggressive 
efficiency,  280 

as  expression  of  associa- 
tion, 278 

as  giving  expression  to 
social  purpose,  280 

as  participation  in  influ- 
ence of  expectation, 
276 

preparatory  instruction 
for,  297 

significance  of,  in  reform, 
278 
20 


Index 


Church      membership,      de- 
fined:  social,  274 
to  the  individual,  276 
Church  organization,   social 

purpose  of,  282 
Commandment,   Fourth,  in- 
terpretation of,  260 
Commandments,       embodi- 
ment of  ethical  prohi- 
bitions, 6 
initial  instruction  in,  60 
Communion,    as    phase    of 
natural  progress,  299 
attitude  of  new  communi- 
cant toward,  300 
prayers    for    preparatory 

period  for,  1646?. 
preparatory  reflection  for, 
162 
Conduct,  human,  as  expres- 
sion of  Divine  Will, 
88 
Confirmation,  age  of,  292 
as  consumrhation  of  bap- 
tism, 287 
as  phase  of  natural  prog- 
ress, 293 
prayers     for    preparatory 

period  of,   160 
preparatory       instruction 
for,  158 
Constancy,  blessing  of,  6z 
Conversation,  domestic,  sig- 
nificance  of,   in   reli- 
gious training  of  the 
home,  114 


Conversion,      meaning     of, 

294 
Courtesy,  meaning  of,  and 
training  in,  310 
mutation   of,   into   rever- 
ence, 311 
Creation,      significance      of 

two  accounts  of,  20 
Creed,  Apostles',  80 

Nicene,  80 
Criticism,  of  religious  insti- 
tutions,    danger-limit 
of,  115 
spirit   of,   destructive   in- 
fluence of,  on  possi- 
bilities    of     religious 
training,  117 
Customs,  common,  of  reli- 
*    gion,  instructive  value 
of  conformity  to,  107 


David,    appeal   of,   through 
athletic  prowess,  228 
rebuke  of,  by  Nathan,  as 
illustration  of  Seventh 
Commandment,  66 
Dependent  goodness,  3 
Destiny,  universal   question 

of,  19 
Discontent,  blessing  of,  62 
Divinity,  postulation  of  two 

sides  of,  177 
Dreyfus,  story  of,  in  illus- 
tration of  Ninth  Com- 
mandment, 67 


321 


Index 


Duncan,     prayer     for     chil- 
dren, 127 


Ecclesiastes,  225 

Elijah,  vision  of,  one  aspect 
of  the  varying  concep- 
tion of  the  Divine 
Presence,  41 

Emotion,   doctrine   of   reli- 
gious significance  of, 
90 
right,  as  deciding  force  in 
conduct,  8 

Environment,  unseen, 
growth  of,  to  reality 
in  the  child-mind,  40 

Epicurus,  21 

Ethics,  defect  of,  as  force  in 
development  of  con- 
duct, 8 

"Eye-service,"  defeated  by 
religion,  17 

F 

Fairy-stories,  as  the  poly- 
theistic stage  of  child- 
hood evolution,  2,7 

Faith,  confession  of,  56 
distinction        of,        from 
works,  91 

Francis  of  Assisi,  28,  309 

G 

God,  as  Father,  teaching  of 
relationship  to,  52 


God,  as  Maker,  teaching  of 
relationship  to,  52 

being  and  nature  of, 
as  first  impressed 
on  child-conscious- 
ness, 34 

conception  of,  as  the  su- 
perlative of   man,  42 

consciousness  of,  as  a 
natural  growth  of  the 
child-mind,  36 

impersonal  conception  of, 
191 

jealousy  of,  as  postulated 
in  all   religions,  72 

perception  of  nature  of, 
in  the  character  of 
Jesus,   71 

personal  will  of,  as  an- 
swer to  universal 
question  of  being,  21 

realization  of,  as  first  step 
in  a  child's  theology, 
49 

rebuke  of,  by  Moses,  234 
by  Peter,  235 

relation  of,  to  Nature, 
189 

self-sacrifice  of,  exempli- 
fied in  Jesus,  72 

universal  presence  of,  as 
primary   fact   in  reli- 
gion, 15 
Goodness,  aggressive,  281 

dependent,  3 

independent,   5 
Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  198 


322 


Index 


Gospels,  as  basis  of  instruc- 
tion, 82 

Grace,     Robert     Herrick's, 
for  a  child,  113 
Stevenson's  verse  on,  114 

Greatness,  true  idea  of,  su- 
preme need  of  na- 
tions, 25 

Growth,  one  of  the  three 
first  realities  of  be- 
ing, 50 

H 

Health,  of  soul,  75 

Hell,  modification  in  doc- 
trine of,   lOI 

Herod,  rebuke  of,  by  John 
the  Baptist,  as  illus- 
tration of  Seventh 
Commandment,  66 

"Historical  Bible,"  239 

"Historical  geography  of 
the  Holy  Land,"  239 

Home,  position  of  religion 
in,   104 

Hosea,  attitude  of,  toward 
Sabbath,  257 
approximation       of,       to 
knowledge  of  Divine 
Affection,  70 

Humility,  blessing  of,  62 


Ignorance,     confession     of, 
56 


Incarnation,  as  example  of 
pedagogic  appeal 

through        sympathy, 
229 

Independent  goodness,  5 

Inspiration,     definition     of, 
184 
permanent  truth  of,  182 

Interrogation,  importance 
and  results  of,  in 
teaching,  247 

Invisibility,  divine,  compre- 
hension of,  by  child- 
mind,  47 

Ironsides,  example  of  mo- 
tive force  of  emo- 
tional ideal,  8 


Joab,    appeal    of,    as   hero, 

228 
Jesus,  as  personal  embodi- 
ment of  religion,  yj 

attitude  of,  toward  Sab- 
bath, 258 

division  of  narrative  of 
life  of,  200 

personality  of,  as  inspir- 
ing force  in  charac- 
ter-building, 30 

significance  of  death  of, 
in  child  theology,  96 

sonship  of,  as  assurance 
of    Divine   Affection, 


teaching  of  divinity  of,  81 


Z'2'Z 


Index 


•'Jesus,    tender     Shepherd/' 

127 
Job,   Book  of,  assigned  to 

late  reflective  stage  of 

race,  121 

K 
Kent.     "Historical     Bible," 

■239 

"Kneeling,  psychological  sig- 
nificance of,  in  prayer, 
126 

Knowledge,    desire    for,   as 
fundamental      condi- 
tion of  human  nature, 
18 
raised  to  belief,  75 


Life,  one  of  the  first  three 
realities  of  being,  50 

Lord's    Prayer,    instruction 
in,  128 

Love,  Divine,  assurance  of, 
in  human  experience, 
58 
in  Jesus,  89 

Loyalty,   response   to   sum- 
mons of,  24 

Lyon,  Mary,  223 

M 

"Magnificat,"  238 
"Marius     the     Epicurean," 
290 


Martyrdom,    as    manifesta- 
tion of  spirit  of  loy- 
alty, 30 
stories   of,   in   connection 
with  baptism,  290 
Matter,    one    of    the    first 
three  realities  of  be- 
ing, 50 
Meekness,  blessing  of,  64 
Midas,  story  of,  in  illustra- 
tion   of    First    Com- 
mandment, 65 
Miraculous,  change  in  con- 
cept of,  188 
general  question  of,  172 
possibility  of  questioning, 

historically,  189 
relating  of,  to  life,  192 
relation  of,  to  conception 

of  God,  190 
retention  of,  in  interpre- 
tations   for    children, 
190 
Missions,      instruction      in 
meaning  of,  61 
justification    of,    in    doc- 
trine of  Divine  Love, 
86 
purpose  of,  87 
Mystery,  universal  fact  of, 
and   its   statement  to 
the  child,  54 
Moody,  preaching  of,  242 
Moral  behavior,  as  founded 
on  necessity  or  voli- 
tion, 2 


324 


Index 


Moses,  as  example  of  meek- 
ness, 64 
God,  rebuked  by,  234 
Motive,  constancy  of,  6 
doctrine  of  religious  sig- 
nificance of,  91 
Mt.  Carmel,  story  of,  in  il- 
lustration    of     First 
Commandment,  65 

N 

Nature,  definition  of,  in  re- 
lation to  Divine  Will, 
188 

Negativity,  avoidance  of,  in 
statement  of  ontolog- 
ical  problem,  54 

Nicene  Creed,  80 


Obedience,     meaning     and 
difficulty     of     attain- 
ment of,  306 
obligation  of,  as  an  early 
principle,  59 

Observation,  natural  re- 
sponse to,  12 

"Old,  Old  Story  Book,  The," 
196 

Omnipresence,  Divine,  com- 
prehension of,  by 
child-mind,  45 

Order  of  first  instruction,  60 

Origin  and  destiny,  univer- 
sal questions  in  the 
youth  of  individual 
and  race,  19 

3 


Pantheism,  place  of,  in  re- 
ligious    development, 
40 
Pater,  Walter,  290 
Personality,  as  medium  of 
expression    of   Chris- 
tian religion,  J^ 
Peter,  God  rebuked  by,  235 
Positivity,  importance  of,  in 
statement  of  ontolog- 
ical  problem,  54 
Prayer,  as  petition  for  spe- 
cific   material    bless- 
ings, 134 

books  of,   III 

evening,    132 

extemporary,  possibility 
of  solution  of  diffi- 
culty of,  no 

family,  importance  of,  in 
religious  training  of 
the  home,  109 

for  children,  Mrs.  Dun- 
can's, 127 

growth  in  child's  under- 
standing of,  analo- 
gous to  interpretive 
experience  of  the 
race,  121 

instruction  in,  as  first 
step  in  religious  train- 
ing, 120 

intercessory  supplication 
in,  133 


25 


Index 


Prayer,    Lord's    instruction 

in,  128 
morning,  132 
opening  phrases  of,  131 
provision    of    forms    of, 

for  special  occasions, 

158 
psychological    significance 

of  kneeling  in,  129 
revision  of  form  of,  with 

child's      mental      ex- 
pansion, 129 
silent,  131 
unanswered,  no  justifying 

test  of  belief,  138 
words    of,    for    children, 

127 

Prayers,  adapted,  for  days 
of  the  week,  151 
arguments    against   mem- 
orizing   of,    by    chil- 
dren, 120 
for  preparatory  period  to 

communion,  164 
for  preparatory  period  to 
confirmation,   160 
Presbyterian  Book  of  Com- 
mon Worship,  III 
selections  from,  151  ff. 
Principles,  three  first,  of  be- 
ing, 50 
Prodigal    son,    parable    of, 

94,  194 
Progress    of    the    race,    as 
analogy    of    spiritual 
development  of  child, 
36 


Prohibition,  as  a  first  con- 
trolling factor  in  con- 
duct, 59 

Prometheus,  exemplifying 
self-sacrifice  in  the 
mythological     beliefs, 

73 

Prothero,  "Psalms  in  Hu- 
man Life,"  238 

Proverbs,  value  of,  as  read- 
ings, 214 

Providence,  assertion  of,  as 
a  universal  fact,  55 

"Psalms  in  Human  Life," 
238 

Psalms,  value  of,  as  read- 
ings, 214 

Purpose,  interior,  of  which 
conduct  is  the  visible 
expression,  9 

Pyle,  Howard,  romances  re- 
told by,  291 


Q 

Questions,      universal, 
youth,  19 


m 


Race,  progress  of,  as  anal- 
ogy of  spiritual  de- 
velopment of  the 
child,  36 

Religion,  as  affording  con- 
tinuity of  ethical  pro- 
tection  of   childhood, 
14 
definition  of,  34 


326 


Index 


Religion,  justification  of 
early  initiation  of 
child     into     tradition 

of,   122 

initial  purpose  of,  15 
instructive  value  of  con- 
formity   to    common 
customs  of,  107 
position  of,  in  the  home, 

104 
test  of  value  of,  303 
Religious    person,    as    con- 
trasted    with     irreli- 
gious, 36 
Religious  rites,  understand- 
ing of,  difference  of 
degree,  125 
Religious    training,    results 
of: 
active  service,  315 
courtesy,  308 
obedience,  304 
prevention     of     selfish- 
ness, 315 
spirit  of  service,  312 
Religious  reverence,  defini- 
tion of,  233 
Resurrection,       significance 
of,  in  child  theology, 
102 
Revelation,  definition  of,  184 

permanent  truth  of,  182 
Reverence,  as  higher  form 
of  courtesy,  311 
religious,     definition     of, 
233 


Sabbath,  as  enjoined  in  Deu- 
teronomy, 254 
as    enjoined    in    Exodus, 

254 

attendance  at  church  on, 
266 

attitude  of  child  toward 
restriction  of  play  on, 
261 

change  in  day  and  mean- 
ing with  rise  of  Chris- 
tianity, 265 

economic  purpose  of,  255 

games  on,  264 

injunction  of  rest  on,  255 

method  by  which  Old 
Testament  rulers  com- 
pelled observance  of, 
256 

play,  260 

reading  on,  263 

Sabbath-school  as  a  solu- 
tion of  the  problem 
of,  253 

two  essential  meanings  of, 

254 

Sabbath-school,  as  prepara- 
tion for  church  at- 
tendance, 270 

Sacrifice,  true,  defined  by 
the  psalmist,  92 

St.  Augustine,  22 

St.  Paul,  sermon  of,  to 
Athenians,  228 


327 


Index 


St.  Polycarp,  martyrdom 
of,  in  illustration  of 
Third  Commandment, 
65 

Salvation,  assurance  of,  94 
Christian  doctrine  of,  99 
definition  of,  84 

Sea,  as  parable  of  divine 
presence,  35 

Selfishness,  meaning  of,  in 
individual,  313 
social,  314 

Serapis,  story  of  image  of, 
in  illustration  of  Sec- 
ond     Commandment, 

65 
Sermon  on  the   Mount,  90 
Service,  blessing  of,  62 
Short   Prayers    for    Family 

Devotion,  I45ff. 
Sincerity,  blessing  of,  63 
Smith,  ''Historical  Geogra- 
phy    of     the     Holy 
Land,"  239 
Soul,  health  of,  75 
Sower,  parable  of,  30 
Stephens,  Robert,  168 
Stobart,  Short  Prayers  for 
Family  Devotion,  se- 
lections from,  I45ff. 


"Tales  of  a  Wayside  Inn," 
238 

Teacher,  nine  points  of  ex- 
cellence of,  221 


Teacher,  place  of,  in  mod- 
ern   social    organisa- 
tion, 219 
qualifications  of: 
cheerfulness,  224 
clearness  of  thought,  244 
expression,  244 
imagination,  240 
intimate   knowledge  of 

pupil,  230 
knowledge,  237 
patience,  232 
punctuality,  221 
religion,  249 
sense  of  duty,  222 
simplicity  of  speech,  245 
skill     in     interrogation, 

246 
sympathy,  227 
significance  of  personality 

of,  226 
superior   efficiency  of,  in 
special    instances    of 
training,  220 
Texts,  citation  of,  in  theo- 
logical disputes,  169 
Theology,    impossibility    of 
perfect  system  of,  178 
Thoreau,  29 
attitude  of,  toward   Sab- 
bath, 264 
Trinity,  teaching  of  doctrine 

of,  77 
Truth,  Divine,  difficulty  of 
approximation  of,   in 
statement   and   inter- 
pretation, 179 
28 


Index 


Truth,  necessity  of  embodi- 
ment of,  76 

U 

Ultimate  answers,  insistence 
of  childhood  on,  21 

Unseen  environment,  growth 
of,  to  reality  in  the 
child-mind,  40 


W 

Will,  Divine,  as  directed  up- 
on human  conduct,  88 
as      primary      fact     in 
child's  theology,  59 
personal,    as    answer    to 
universal  question  of 
being,  20 
Works,  distinction  of,  from 
faith,  91 


(2) 


Date  Due 

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ifl'm  •'""  ^''^°'°9ical  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01040  2610 


